09/01/2016
Earning their own money and battling brand snobbery.
Today, I find myself thinking quite a bit about the work ethic I learned at a young age, and how to replicate that with my own kids in a more reasonable way. Part of our summer activities included the kids earning their own money by helping out with certain things around the house. Learning the value of a dollar, and understanding that not everything will be handed to them. Case in point, explaining to my teenager, during our pre-shopping conversation, why purchasing $100.00 Jordanās is not something that is going to happen just because. While I understood they are the cool thing to have, not only are his feet growing at an exponential rate, it was an extravagant, unearned purchase. He had worked hard that summer, and I felt good about buying him a couple pairs of shoes. I set expectations that we would buy a reasonable pair of shoes that would still be cool. His heart was set on Nikeās. I then found myself in one of those moments, I swore I would never experience as a parentā¦āWhen I was your ageā. Oh noā¦is this really coming out of my mouth? Yep, indeed I went there. I preceded to tell him how I worked my entire 6th grade summer to buy my own school clothes. I earned $350.00 babysitting from 6am to 4pm, Mon-Fri. If he earned money over the summer and decided he wanted to spend his money on a pair of Jordanās (vs. save in the bank), or pay the difference between what we would normally buy ($45.00-60.00), he was old enough to make that decision. Granted, my experience at that age was a little extreme, and looking back I wish I had played more that summerā¦but I hoped my point was made. Albeit, it was met with plenty of eye rolling and sighs. Phase two of this parenting adventure, was in the actual store. While shoe shopping it was made clear to me that certain shoe brands would expose him to ridicule. āMom, Iām going to a new school this year, I just canāt take being teased on top of itā. While finding the right shoe fit has always been a laborious process, I asked him if he would really rule out a shoe that felt really good based on the Logo. Yes, most definitely was the answer. I paused mentally, and tried to figure out the best way to handle this situation. I transported myself to my teen years and completely understood where he was coming from, while my adult brained screamed, āI am not raising a brand snob, nor a child that participates in brand shaming!ā I first asked a few qualifying questions including, āWhat is wrong with this brandā? āWho specifically is teasing people at school?ā. The main answer was the brand was not considered cool, and he would be teased. Okay, so the parent side of me wanted to protect my child from this ridicule, although I despised giving into the brand snobbery. I realized a compromise would need to be made, and by discussing the issue. āYou do understand that participating in anyway at school in shaming someone for wearing a certain brand is wrong?ā Yes, mom (with a sigh). āYou do understand that if I ever hear of you participating or saying anything at school that is close to brand shaming, we will revisit what is on your own feet?ā Yes, mom (with a shake of the head). We worked through it, and settled on a pair of Vans and Nike running shoes. Would love to hear comments on your experience with this!
