There are not many regrets that I have growing up, nor are there many
things that I wish I had done that I didn't as a teen. I try to remember
if I was as happy go lucky as these pictures appear.
Lemon Lady (as she likes to be called) is ready to celebrate 2010 Home Coming.
As a kid, I thought I was pretty happy. It's only when I grew up that I knew that we didn't have a lot of money, that both my parents had to work in order to put food on the table and that the clothes on our backs were the equivalent of Wal-Mart specials. Yet........I wasn't unhappy with the way things were.
I know that we've tried to do things for our kids that, at least my parents, weren't able to do for us.We didn't go over board(in my opinion). We didn't buy them a car without some sort of payback.......like keeping above average grades and having a part time job or participating in High School after school activities. We had a budget for clothing. If they absolutely needed those $100 pants then there was nothing else left for other things. Funny how kids become good frugal shoppers when they have to use their own money to add to the clothing budget.
I dont' know where I was going with this but I think I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. I would never want to go back to the teenage years. Life was too tumultuous, too full of teenage drama, too full of hormones.......
naw........I like where I'm at now............
Lemon Lady's life has not been a bed of roses. Her father in prison and her mom....well her mom is a different story that I probably won't go into later.
She seems happy for the most part. She is smart and makes good grades, pretty and doesn't flaunt it, articulate and can express herself like an adult, and gregarious with many friends. She plays the flute in the marching band......she loves to sing......and she has those damn gorgeous dimples (not a braggy grandma or nothing like that!)
We implemented this rule last year.. In order to keep us from feeling like the only reason they come around is to get money or other stuff.......they must visit at least 2 times before asking for anything. Lemon Lady doesn't have a problem with this. She visits often and very rarely asks for things....Princess in Training (who has a life in case your interested), on the other hand, seems to think the world is owed to her on a silver platter. She is only 12 going on 25.
We, as grandparents, try to make things a bit easier. We try to pamper them without over doing it.
All I know is I don't want any ingrate (thanks MacDougal Baby for the GOOD word!) grandchildren hanging around.
Lemon Lady seems as delightful as she is lovely. I figure you guys are about the perfect grandparents...you teach responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThose are gorgeous dimples.
ReplyDeleteShe's a pretty girl. It's great that she respects you enough to not ask for much. It's rare in kids these days, I think. My mom was the same way, as far as pampering my sister's kids, before she died five years ago. She loved my little nieces like crazy. As do I. My nieces, thank god, are only spoiled to a point and they usually have to earn what they get by doing household chores and so on. One is 12. The other is 8.
ReplyDeleteThat's how it was while my sister and I were growing up. We were a lower middle class family and we knew the value of a dollar, too. I think when you instill these types of lessons in your kids, then they learn a great deal instead of being dependent on family when they grow up. You're on right on target. And with that, I say, take care.
Jerry and Missed Periods: Thanks...she is a pretty great kid. If I do say so myself!
ReplyDeleteKelly, Lemon Lady knows the value of "you get more with sugar". She knows how to work it! Her sis on the other hand, well, she takes after her granny. It's not so much she takes us for granted, she just isn't wanting something so bad that she feels the need to 'suck up' to us. LOL
ReplyDeleteI LOVE my grand girls!!
Just looking at Lemon Lady, before reading this post, I thought, what a stable, happy looking girl, and so pretty too.
ReplyDeleteYou had a hand in her upbringing? Give yourself a pat.