Your Kids - the Anti-Minimalists

Recently at dinner, the family and I were talking about a news story we heard of a former NBA player who had been paid over $83 million in his career, yet owed over $300,000 to various sources without the ability to pay. He also had four baby mamas to whom he was financially responsible.  My kids were amazed that he had made so much money!  The houses!  The clothes!  The bankruptcy court!  

Co-parent reminded my boys that it's not how much you make; it's how much you keep.  When you trade that money for tangible things, logic would say you don't have the money anymore.  And you have more stuff.  

Kids are crap magnets.  Every little school note, Target dollar spot find, and treat bag trinket seem to find their way to your house, your van floor, and your kids' closets.  To a six-year-old, more must ALWAYS be better!  They scoff at us minimalists if we dare try to purge the evil matchbox cars and Barbie shoes that are crammed in the baseboards while they are still awake.  Stupid!  Every mom knows you wait till the kids are at preschool or a sleepover before you troll their rooms with a trash bag?!?

Back to the brilliant NBA guy.  Children, and apparently sports figures as well as  rappers, seem to equate success and wealth with stuff. Tangible evidence that you have more, or, at the very least as much as, the Other Guy. I am not sure who the Other Guy is, but we want more than he's got.  Because only then have we really and truly seen and tasted happiness. Uh, I don't think so. 

I am desperately trying to teach my boys that, although stuff can be exciting, it cannot define your success.  NBA guy was a standout player at one point, and now is only a name on a bankruptcy docket.  His achievement on the court is marred by his quest for cars and bling.  

 In my own kids' worlds, my goal is to reinforce that happiness isn't in that next cool phone or the American Girl doll.   Why?  Because there's ALWAYS going to be more stuff.   I shamefully cannot believe the amount of crap that flows through our house around Christmas and kids' birthdays, which unfortunately for me, all occur within a six week time frame.  

So what to do?  Pretend you actually DO live in a smaller house.  NO MORE BINS at Target! Don't buy containers for doll clothes and puzzle pieces. Stop acquiring more items.  Follow the "clean up before your birthday" plan.  No gifts till you give away some you don't use.  

And remember, rush out to the curb on trash day BEFORE the little hoarders wake up!