But I NEEEEEED it!!!

I am seriously on the verge of loading my kids up in the van to drive them past the parts of the city that have low income housing. No, not to drop them off, tempting as it may be on Day #6 of Spring Break.

For a reality check.

My poor ‘deprived’ children who think that having to wait until their birthday for a toy is cruel and unusual punishment. My kids who don’t understand why we can’t eat lunch out every day of Spring Break.

I guess right now, I’m just a little fed up. This week, for some reason, has been high on the ‘Gimme’ scale. A routine trip to Wal-Mart this morning has resulted in a long lecture from Mommy about ‘Needs’ vs. ‘Wants’.

I blame The Cartoon Network. Extra time on spring break = extra time watching t.v.= extra toy commercials hawking all the things that my kids MUST have RIGHT NOW!!

And it could be that currently, I’m just overly sensitive to it. Because like a lot of people in our country right now, we are trying to tighten our belts. Rein in our spending. Eat at home. Go to the dollar movies instead of the full price theater.

Where is the balance, people? I hate to always be the mom that says, ‘No… No… Nooo!!!’ to everything, but I also don’t want my children to have unrealistic expectations that they can get something every time we venture into Target to buy toilet paper.

Or that a quick trip to the mall does not have to include an over-sized soft pretzel and a run through Old Navy to see what’s on sale.



Okay… well, actually, that’s me.



Damn.