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March 11, 2010

How Much Is Too Much?

There's a fine line between spoiling a kid and treating them to nice things. I'm just not sure where that line is sometimes.

Wade, Aurora and I live in a great neighborhood filled with lots of children and really cool parents. We've got generations of families, straight and gay couples, interracial couples, single moms, adopted kids- truly a myriad of family varieties. Every Friday we have a playgroup that rotates from home to home, and out of the chit-chat and party planning that takes place between the moms, the kids have been treated to some pretty spectacular things. Now, I don't want to be Betty Bringdown, but I'm starting to wonder (quietly to myself) if we're going a little overboard.

Before the Christmas holiday we had several tons of snow and ice delivered to the neighborhood so our little LA dwellers could go sledding and make snowmen. Everyone had a great time- it was definitely big fun- but it was probably a little over the top. So what- it's a memory to last a lifetime, right? For the parents maybe, but I don't know if the 3-year-olds really processed how special it was. With Easter around the corner we've got plans for a whole extravaganza in the 'hood and I'm worried that we may get carried away. So far we're talking bouncers, face painters, an arts-and-crafts station, balloons, a petting zoo and an egg hunt. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

I want Aurora to have wonderful childhood memories with her friends, and special events are definitely part of that. She doesn't expect a blowout bash for every holiday, but I worry that we moms are starting to! Help me MomLogic peeps! Should I just lighten up, write the check for the event and get my face painted along with everyone else? Or should I suggest we all take it down a notch?