Am I raising a traveler or a spoiled child?

Posted on 9:42 PM by
My daughter's birthday is coming up. We're throwing a birthday party and inviting her school friends but we also plan to do something special with just family on the actual day of her birthday.

I assumed that I'd be making pancakes that morning and maybe we'd go to her favorite park. In the afternoon we'd go to the movies or get tickets to a children's play, and then wrap things up at dinner with grandma and grandpa. But my daughter clearly had a different plan.

In the car on the way to school, I asked her, "What would you like to do on your birthday?"

"Well, mommy I'd really like to go to Chicago or where I'd really like to go is New Orleans. Do you think we could do that? We could fly to New Orleans for the night? But I'd also like to go to the American Girl Cafe in Chicago. Maybe we could go to both places, Mommy. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Our family travels a lot. My kids tag along with me on my work trips. My dad gifts us airline miles and I'm a whiz at racking up my own miles, so we're taking more trips than we could ever actually afford. I have always thought the exposure is great for my kids and will help them develop a worldly mindset but now I'm realizing that somewhere along the line I forgot to communicate to my daughter that travel is something very special. Yes, birthdays are special but the typical child doesn't just jet off to Chicago on her 7th birthday to have lunch at the American Girl Cafe.

5 comments:

Randy said...

Uh huh, I know what you mean. Our son is a spoiled little traveler, but at least he gets to see the world. Those experiences are far better than any toy that we could buy him.

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