Protecting Families from Recession
Are you feeling the pinch of today's economic downturn?
Do you feel anxious or on-edge? Afraid of losing your promotion, your health benefits, your job?
These are real-life worries, and thousands of men and women are struggling to keep their homes intact and their hope alive.
What is the impact of this recession on our children and what can we do about it?
A brief personal history may give perspective:
My parents owned and managed a retail toy store on 34th street in New York City, right where Madison Garden is today. These were the days before Toys-R-Us, Walmart and other mega-stores.
They worked days and nights. Like retailers today, they counted on the "busy season" to sustain them for the rest of the year. When we were old enough, my mother sometimes worked through the night, came home to wake us up for school and returned back to the store.
We never lacked anything physical. My mother cooked our meals and made sure that we were dressed and prepared for school. How did she do it? I don't know.
But I do know that the tension was palpable in the house during the busy season. My parents were tired, beyond our current definition of that term, and worried. I distinctly recall seeing my father bent over the bills, trying to figure out how to get money from Peter to pay Paul.
The results? Better than what you would expect. Because we saw our parents suffering, we had very different expectations of what they should be doing for us. We resented the hours that they spent away from us but later as adults appreciated their sacrifices.
On the other hand, I now have a keen sense of spending money and find it difficult to do so with pleasure. Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoy shopping just like every other woman I know. But there's always the question in my mind, "Do I really need this?"
Sometimes I walk around, gazing at the knick-knacks and valuables in my home and am awed by their presence. I don't take any of them for granted.
So the lesson is twofold: Reality can be humbling, as we tighten our belts and make do with less. Children learn a real-life lesson that they could never learn in school. But be careful how you teach it. Be aware of your own emotional state. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Protect everyone from the damage - physical, verbal or emotional - that could occur in these difficult times.
Do you feel anxious or on-edge? Afraid of losing your promotion, your health benefits, your job?
These are real-life worries, and thousands of men and women are struggling to keep their homes intact and their hope alive.
What is the impact of this recession on our children and what can we do about it?
A brief personal history may give perspective:
My parents owned and managed a retail toy store on 34th street in New York City, right where Madison Garden is today. These were the days before Toys-R-Us, Walmart and other mega-stores.
They worked days and nights. Like retailers today, they counted on the "busy season" to sustain them for the rest of the year. When we were old enough, my mother sometimes worked through the night, came home to wake us up for school and returned back to the store.
We never lacked anything physical. My mother cooked our meals and made sure that we were dressed and prepared for school. How did she do it? I don't know.
But I do know that the tension was palpable in the house during the busy season. My parents were tired, beyond our current definition of that term, and worried. I distinctly recall seeing my father bent over the bills, trying to figure out how to get money from Peter to pay Paul.
The results? Better than what you would expect. Because we saw our parents suffering, we had very different expectations of what they should be doing for us. We resented the hours that they spent away from us but later as adults appreciated their sacrifices.
On the other hand, I now have a keen sense of spending money and find it difficult to do so with pleasure. Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoy shopping just like every other woman I know. But there's always the question in my mind, "Do I really need this?"
Sometimes I walk around, gazing at the knick-knacks and valuables in my home and am awed by their presence. I don't take any of them for granted.
So the lesson is twofold: Reality can be humbling, as we tighten our belts and make do with less. Children learn a real-life lesson that they could never learn in school. But be careful how you teach it. Be aware of your own emotional state. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Protect everyone from the damage - physical, verbal or emotional - that could occur in these difficult times.
posted by Dr. Spiegel at
10:30 AM
1 Comments:
I like what you wrote. I think our generation, in general, was raised with a lot less material wealth than the current generation. I remember that my parents couldn't afford the 5 cents to buy us ice cream from the Good Humor truck.
By
Anonymous, at Monday, December 08, 2008
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