Upbringing

I and my brother have been from a middle class family. We had always been taught to adhere to the budget and almost always never had the craze or the power of splurging in luxury things, but at the same time we are very proud and happy to be a part of the family wherein our needs were always taken care of irrespective of whether mom dad had the money or no.

I still remember the dress which mom got for me for the school farewell party. I am sure it would have burned a hole in her pocket to buy that dress at the end of the month, but she did just to make me smile and feel special. I also reminsce the birthday treats we used to give for our friends with all arranged snacks at home. How much ever friends we invited she used to cook for them, without any help and those flavors of the food cannot be matched by any star hotel foods.

We used to shop yearly twice, for our birthdays and Diwali. Diwali because, dad used to get his bonus then. We used to get our yearly dresses then, one for birthday and Vishu. Today, by Gods grace we have the power to shop whatever we want, but still our middle class mindsets always makes us think twice before splurging on anything, be it a dress or a top.

I feel it’s very important to be able to touch base with our roots. Even for the kiddo, I make it a point to say "no" at times so that he too understands the value of things he has. In today's world parents can buy whatever money can buy. But we should also make the kids realize that not always their demands would be fulfilled.

It's ok to say no to them. They may be feel bad for sometime but somewhere down they would be able to learn to handle no as an answer.