My kids are spoiled....

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Kids will remember blurs of memories. Not how fancy their trip was.

My grandparents lived in Florida, and every year we went to visit them, sometimes twice. We drove, we took the train and we flew. We stayed in everything from Hojo's to the Poly at WDW. I have very strong memories of wandering around the Poly and loving it as or the awesome mural at CR and riding the monorail. But I have just as happy memories of eating at Hojo's and swimming at the pool there. My parents made magical trips and there was never a value placed on flying versus driving. They would just say "We're going on an adventure!"

My parents worked really hard when we were kids, and our vacations really were a special time. We had fun, laughed, saw so much and learned alot from our road trips, esp. We would stop at historic sites all along the eastern seaboard.

My dh works hard and takes very few vacations. We don't have time to drive to Florida when he takes time off because he won't generally take more than a week off at a time. I wish have the chance to drive to Disney because I think our kids would love it.

We have always stayed onsite primarily because our children have special needs and it was easier, but this year we decided to go budget and found cheap offsite accommodations. We haven't presented it as anything negative. They are just thrilled to be able to go to Florida and have a family vacation. We'll just focus on having a blast.

Kids adopt their parents' views. Undoubtedly if kids are horrified by anything other than a deluxe vacation, they've been listening to their parents.

You know you are so right. I am a very thrifty person. On top of that, I love the over the top themes at the values resorts. I always say if I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd still stay values, but I'd stay a lot longer. Anyway, we often go to other resorts for dinner and when we get there my kids always say how lucky we are to be able to stay where we stay, as if we are actually at the deluxe resort. I mean, we all think the other resorts are beautiful (especially WL) but we are always happy to go back to the AllStars with the theme and the kids running around playing.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

This thread brought back a funny memory for me. My DD is in 7th Grade now and this happened in 4th Grade .....

Every year the elementary school my DD attended goes on an overnight fieldtrip at the end of 4th Grade. I signed up to chaperone the trip so I was in communication alot with her teacher. One day when I was talking to him he started chuckling and said when he was going over the trip itinerary with the kids and mentioned they'd be staying in a hotel overnight he said my DD raised her hand and asked, with complete sincerity, "Is it a 4-star hotel?".

 

[DVCBELLE]

You know you are so right. I am a very thrifty person. On top of that, I love the over the top themes at the values resorts. I always say if I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd still stay values, but I'd stay a lot longer. Anyway, we often go to other resorts for dinner and when we get there my kids always say how lucky we are to be able to stay where we stay, as if we are actually at the deluxe resort. I mean, we all think the other resorts are beautiful (especially WL) but we are always happy to go back to the AllStars with the theme and the kids running around playing.

My kids love the All-Stars too - they actually think those are the best and most expensive hotels on property! We always go over to look at the themes and have dinner there - the food courts are by far their favorite place to eat on property!!

We don't ever stay in the values b/c before they were ever born - my DH and I bought DVC and so that is the cheapest way for us to go to Disney!

My kids are never upset about any hotel we choose to stay in and love to travel but they are just as happy to be at home with their friends and family as they are to travel.

I am sorry that I titled this thread - my kids are spoiled...I guess I should have said - my kids are blessed....my husband spent much of his childhood in foster care so they do know how lucky they are even to have parents who love them and provide them the basics in life!

And to the posters who said it is absurd to threaten to downgrade are exactly right! That is what prompted the whole post - that my DH and I were the ones who realized how absurd we were being!

 

[andrews_dad]

My wife and I worry about this same thing. We used to travel a ton to Europe, Hawaii, and the Carribbean. Not lavishly, just never took a single sick day and used every "paid-day-off" as vacation time to head out of dodge. We've had to cut back since the baby was born and are forced to used days off a baby sick days, but we still travel more than most folks. He is 20 months old and has been to Atlantis in the Bamahas for two trips (a week each) and 2 trips to Diz (a bit more than a week each). We worry that the "specialness" of travel will wear out on him & the new baby since they will be so used to travel as we plan to keep on the move as much as possible with two kids.

 

[Ka' eo]

I think if parents notice that their kids are getting "spoiled" then you can turn it around. Dial back the extras, the luxuries, let them live a little bit like you lived as a child. They are young, and you can change their outlook.

I came to that personal conclusion this summer. My 5 year old daughter thought the hotel room was too small and made a comment about it. We stayed in the BLT and she said "this room is as small as a mouses house, and we are not mice."

I thought, what am I teaching this kid?! and I thought long and hard about it. I did not grow up privileged at all. My parents instilled in me you can work for something and get it, that they will assist me when they can and that you always have too look around and know that someone always has it worse than you and you have a duty to those poorer than you.

So, move it up to Christmas this year, we dialed back the toys, we dialed back the Valentines and the shopping and this summer we will not be hitting Disney but the shore instead. She learned a hard lesson this Christmas that some kids don't get any gifts, and some don't have houses or parents when I took her to a shelter that I usually work with.

She is young and I won't make the mistake with the other little ones that I made with her. But what a wake-up call. I am glad it happened early.

At the line bolded by me. You are so right.

We went to NYC last year and got upgraded to a presidential suite in a hotel I'd gotten for $75 on Hotwire. It was a $900 room!!!!!!!! It was like 3600 sq feet in the middle of Manhattan! My DD9 grabbed one of the plushy robes from her private bath off her private bedroom, put it on, and said, "From now on we will only stay in hotel rooms like this!"

We explained that we could never afford to go anywhere if we had to pay for something like this.

We have scaled back too. We are an excessive society. I really do want our children to give back to others, enjoy the essence of life and avoid the superficial 'high' of "stuff" and "status".

 

[secretpantssam]

Kids will remember blurs of memories. Not how fancy their trip was.

I agree with this. My first trip to Disney was when I was 6. We stayed at a little hotel that my mom still refers to as a "flea bag". But I just remember having so much fun! It didn't matter that the hotel was cheap or that we drove down. I had fun and remember meeting Mickey, riding Dumbo, and picking out a stuffed animal.

 

[andrews_dad]

At the line bolded by me. You are so right.

We went to NYC last year and got upgraded to a presidential suite in a hotel I'd gotten for $75 on Hotwire. It was a $900 room!!!!!!!! It was like 3600 sq feet in the middle of Manhattan! My DD9 grabbed one of the plushy robes from her private bath off her private bedroom, put it on, and said, "From now on we will only stay in hotel rooms like this!"

We explained that we could never afford to go anywhere if we had to pay for something like this.

We have scaled back too. We are an excessive society. I really do want our children to give back to others, enjoy the essence of life and avoid the superficial 'high' of "stuff" and "status".

$900 room for $75??

 

[Ka' eo]

$900 room for $75??

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!! We could have lived there. It had a small kitchen (because who cooks who stays there?), a huge 10 chair dining table in front of a fireplace with a library and the livingroom had a giant couch or two and a huge flat screen tv. The bedrooms were gorgeous and the hallway was as long as our house! We were thrilled. It will probably never happen again, but it IS easy to get used to how the other .01% lives.

 

[andrews_dad]

I've gotten a few suite upgrades in places like Vegas before and thought I had a nice room, but nothing like that. What a treat!!!

 

[MDTerrapin]

>>>>>My mom and dad would get us up at 3am and pack hard boiled eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast and sandwiches that we would eat a rest stop to save money on hotels and meals. I vowed I would never do that to my kids.<<<<<

I'm jumping into this late but I don't see what was so horrible about pacing breakfast and eating at a rest stop. My DH works 6 days/week and we struggled to take the kids to Disney last year. I packed lunch meat and such and we we stopped at a rest stop on the way for lunch. It was one of the best parts of our trip. We played frisbee, ate and just spent time together.

Karen

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

>>>>>My mom and dad would get us up at 3am and pack hard boiled eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast and sandwiches that we would eat a rest stop to save money on hotels and meals. I vowed I would never do that to my kids.<<<<<

I'm jumping into this late but I don't see what was so horrible about pacing breakfast and eating at a rest stop. My DH works 6 days/week and we struggled to take the kids to Disney last year. I packed lunch meat and such and we we stopped at a rest stop on the way for lunch. It was one of the best parts of our trip. We played frisbee, ate and just spent time together.

Karen

I agree, I grew up this way and do it with my kids too. Because of this we can afford to go to Disney eery other year. No matter how you get there or where you stay, we all ride the same rides, see the same castle, and meet the same Mickey. My kids couldn't care less that some of our meals are eaten in the car and that we drie straight though, they just are happy that we get to go.

 

[Teacher03]

>>>>>My mom and dad would get us up at 3am and pack hard boiled eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast and sandwiches that we would eat a rest stop to save money on hotels and meals. I vowed I would never do that to my kids.<<<<<

I'm jumping into this late but I don't see what was so horrible about pacing breakfast and eating at a rest stop. My DH works 6 days/week and we struggled to take the kids to Disney last year. I packed lunch meat and such and we we stopped at a rest stop on the way for lunch. It was one of the best parts of our trip. We played frisbee, ate and just spent time together.

Karen

I agree. Our first trip to Disney we packed our food and stopped at rest stops to have picnics. My kids are all grown now, and they remember the rest stop picnics as happy memories, and I wish at times we could go back to the simplicity of it all. We didn't have a lot of money that first trip, but I can honestly say it was one of the best.

 

[metz72]

>>>>>My mom and dad would get us up at 3am and pack hard boiled eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast and sandwiches that we would eat a rest stop to save money on hotels and meals. I vowed I would never do that to my kids.<<<<<


I guess that I should have worded that more specifically. I meant that I wouldn't make my kids get up at 3am. I didn't mean to offend anyone, but I guess I touched off a sore spot. Sorry.

 

[stacie_d]

Haven't read all the replies and I love responses that start out like this , but my boys are so spoiled! I only went on one vacation ever while I was growing up and it was a weekend trip to Sea World in Ohio...we lived in WV. I was fortunate enough to have enough fund raisers (and a grandma that would help me however she could) to go on a school trip to DW. My family simply did not get to vacation. Never really went to a beach until this past July. Now, for me, trips and vacations are a priority. I surly don't miss what I never had. My childhood was great. But my kids are subject to a different childhood. They are spolied...but they are good (not perfect) kids.

Just deleted a bunch...went to proud mama mode. Spoiled...yes, but that does not mean ungrateful.