QUALITY VS. QUANTITY

So I was repairing some tiling work in our bathroom when , big surprise, I had an epiphany. My son was helping me with the tiles and I got to thinking about what kind of a life we were providing for him.

I remember being younger and hearing the phrase "I want to give my children a quality of life that I never had". At the time I remember thinking "but your stories of childhood always sound so fun". And then it hit me. It has become all too easy to confuse giving you children the "quality of life you never had" with the "quantity of life you never had".

I distinctly remember playing soccer on the street with a ball made from a bunch of newspaper stuffed in a piece of a leg of pantyhose. We figured that we could always nick a pair of pantyhose from our moms and get at least 6 balls out of one pair.

Given that we didn't usually play on Sundays – and there was always at least 6 of us – we would each nick a pair of pantyhose from our moms about once every six weeks. Which was perfect since the lapse in time made them none the wiser to our scheme. If confronted while in play, it was always someone else's mom that had "given" us the pantyhose.

Oops, yes, my point. My point is that part of the fun of growing up is the creative process of invention. But, if necessity (as the saying goes) spawns invention, then that quantity of life may in a sense stunt the growth of the inventive spirit.

So next time your kids get all "whine-ona" on you because you are not just going out and buying them the ready made solution, remember that other old cliché... "It builds character". Don't deny them the opportunity of their own fun childhood stories.

As for me, I just hope when my wife notices her pantyhose missing that she doesn't think I'm secretly wearing them.

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DISCLAIMER: This blog is intended to house my opinions and observations on the world as I see it. Although my arguments may come from the more emotional realm I do try to apply as much fact as I have available to me at the time of writing. I am not writing an encyclopedia here, I am writing opinions. Av
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