One of the things that we have learned as we have changed the way we live, is that we sometimes need to be creative. It’s easy to be all cavalier about how we live, when we are in our own home.
But take us out in public and put us around other people and you’ll notice some quirks.
Today, at the little’s preschool, it is ‘ice cream day‘. We received a notice earlier in the week that the ice cream man would be coming each friday until the end of summer.
“Please send in money if you would like your child to have some ice cream”.
I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a bit frustrated by this request.
While it wasn’t a mandatory request, as a parent, you struggle with wanting your kids to not feel left out. Yet at the same time, we are choosing to live in a different way and this clearly didn’t fit into that:
- We try to eat healthy, nutritious, whole non-processed foods.
- We are on a budget.
Of course, it would be really easy to cave and fall back to old ways, out of fear of judgement.
“Just buy the darn ice cream for your child. What’s it gonna hurt?”
But what is that teaching our children if we go against something we believe in, just so our children could have a fleeting, happy encounter with a nutritionally-empty ice cream cone?
Our solution? Randy made homemade strawberry and cream popsicles this morning. The boys were absolutely beaming as we took them up to the school for them to eat instead. To say the boys were thrilled to have “healthy ice cream” to take, would be an understatement!
Who knows… maybe all of the other kids will be the ones looking at them longingly.
As I said, living differently, in whatever way, takes a lot of thought, and determination.
Your Turn: How do you handle situations where others do things differently than you teach your children at home?
please note that the purpose of this post is not to judge others who choose to give their children ice cream (or whatever), but rather to explain how we solved a problem we’ve encountered. We want to serve as an encouragement to others – not a source of condemnation
Ugh. I always just give in for fear of being the weird parent. Even with my friends I give in because I don’t feel like defending myself all the time. I need some backbones!!!
Jaymi: I have worried about that at times. As I said: it’s easier to stay convicted while around my own home. But I’m finally convinced and have bought into it all (for lack of a better term) enough that I feel comfortable defending it if I have to.
Interesting question! Here’s a scenario: we don’t celebrate Halloween. There are a few reasons for this: money f
Ahhh! Stupid thing sent before I was done!
As I was saying: the inordinate amount of money it would take to costume for kids, for one thing. For another, I don’t really get the point of all the scary stuff….? Just not our thing; no big deal.
However, it’s the biggest day of the year for our school district; even more so than Christmas. They told us it was fine if the kids didn’t participate: thy could spend the day in the library (with Mrs. White *shudder*), but if they didn’t come to school that day, it woul be an unexcused absence. Hmmm.
We decided to take the day off anyway, even my husband, and for the last 4 years, it’s been our family tradition to do something fun together as a family on Halloween.we worried that the boys would feel bad about missing out, but actually, they’re thrilled to get to skip out on school and have a special family day!
So yeah, we do what we want, and do our best not to worry about what anyone thinks about it!
Miriam: we do all of our holidays differently now. This past year, most holidays started with me nearly imploding them because I was so worried the kids would totally hate it. (this is all a post for another time, for sure!)
The kids? LOVED them all.
Hey, good job coming up with a creative solution! That’s fantastic! We’re homeschooling, but I know I would definitely feel the pull of the peer pressure. You’re right that it’s best for them to learn not to compromise who they are just to fit in – that’s an important lesson I think we’re all still learning as we go!
Thanks, Jeni! It is a hard lesson to learn, but so important, for sure!!
(They were so cute when we went to pick them up at the end of the day and got to tell us all about their popsicles.)
I don’t have kids so my comments don’t count! However, I still like to put in my 2 cents. :-) I hate that the preschool put you in that position! Any kid would feel left out to be excluded even if they didn’t like ice cream. It’s natural for all the kids to want to do what other kids are doing. I really admire how you and Randy are trying to raise your kids. I think ice cream should be for a special occasion or at most once a week. If I was in that situation, I would want to save the once a week ice cream when the whole family could have it together and not use it up at school. I know most parents would just cave in. I love your solution! Those strawberry and cream popsicles that Randy made look better than ice cream and I know for sure they’re much healthier. I can understand being on a budget too. Every little output of money adds up and it’s smart to watch it. I shop sales like a fiend. There’s a lot of foods I only buy when they’re on sale. Keep up the good work cuz it’s showing in how your #4kidz are turning out! ;-)
Thank you Chrisor! (so happy to see you over here!!!)
We do love their school, but a couple of times, we’ve had to pull them out for the day or take them in late because they were doing an activity that they had to pay for. Several of them have been $15 – 20 each! Double that, with two kids, and it just doesn’t fit into our ‘bigger plan’…
Those popsicles Randy made were so amazing!! (I ate one of the extra ones on the way home!! lol)
My daughter is lactose-intolerant.
At her school, children are not allowed to bring peanut products to school, because some kids have severe allergies. This became part of the school’s rules and regulations; booklets are sent to every home just before school starts.
I have always lived a different lifestyle. Because I was divorced and never remarried, I was shunned by society.
I could not get support and had to work full-time. With one income, we had a very frugal lifestyle. We had small wardrobes, never went on vacation and had an old car. We had just enough to eat. My kids visited their friends, went to the park, walked in the woods or played at the playgrounds for free.
My older daughter felt deprived and now lives beyond her means, but my younger daughter was very content and has continued the same frugality.
Di ~
We do the best we can, right?
My biggest hope and prayer for them is that they realize that the world is so much bigger than just themselves, and that they find true contentment and joy in things other than possessions.