Learning to live with less - children and today's economy

With all of the talk lately about the economy and how Americans have been caught up in living above their means, I can't help but think about the children that have been encouraged along this same path.

These children will no doubt go through some withdrawals for the "things" they used to get. However, the good news is they will bounce back relatively quickly into their very fun world of "make believe." That is, if they are encouraged to use their imagination and pretend. Pretend play allows children to practice a variety of roles in life, set goals, accomplish tasks independently and most importantly play without any rules! Children who are overstimulated by lots of outside "stuff" will not learn to play by themselves or use items in their environment in creative ways (i.e. - daddy's old tie as the seat belt on your make believe adventure to Africa to see wild animals).

Where am I going with this? I want every parent out there to know how FABULOUS this economic situation really is for our children. It offers us a chance to step back from the "things" in life and focus on the "people." It offers us the chance to reduce the overbooked lifestyles of our children and allow them more free play time with less stress over being at three extracurricular classes a week that offer structured activities instead of what children need most - free play!

This economy will force us to talk about wants vs. needs with our children and we will get back to taking the time to instill the most important value of all - patience. Our children will begin to be able to set goals for things they want and create plans to achieve those goals. They will be able to give more than they receive. They will see the value in small things, like leaves changing colors or how bicycle wheels work.

Less focus will be on the marketing messages sent out by large toy companies and more focus will be on your family's self-marketing of less expensive, fun times with the family. Families will begin to spend more time together and the effect - priceless!