Lauren- no harm meant, and I’ve taught my two sons and daughter (now all in their 20s) lots of frugality along the way, including thrift shopping.

And yet…they are pricey creatures. While they are kind, and indeed they’ve been taught to look beneath the surface to the heart of others, their middle school counterparts were often not so kind. It’s painful to reckon that while you & I enjoy a vintage find, my daughter’s heart fell hard for a $500 prom dress, and it made my heart happy to watch her glow in it. Just as happy as when my son said “my suit from last fall fits” for graduation.

My only point was that the love of making sure our children have not just their basic needs, but the things that make them truly happy, safe, and sometimes just joyful- well, we often bend. Because they are only ours for a short time, and they’ll find happiness elsewhere, in good places or bad.

It’s not altogether terrible to seek a balance between the sides of the see-saw.