Lesson of the Decade

I've heard friends talk about giving their children 'the things they never had'. Everyone's upbringing was different, of that I am well aware of. Some didn't have enough, some had excess, some only had what they needed. I can honestly say I've never wished to give my daughter more than what I had as a child growing up in Los Amores. It's not to say I had the newest of toys, the spiffiest of clothing, or was taken on frequent road trips. In fact, none of the above was true, but I never yearned for more.

What my friends were referring to were material things. Of course we all want to give our children endless amounts of love, affection, attention, and support. In respect to material things, I wouldn't want to give my daughter more than what I had.

we affectionately refer to it as la casita

I was brought up in this here house. It was small. It really only had three rooms-a huge living room that doubled as our bedrooms (yes, only one bedroom), a middle room that served as a dining room/closet space, and our kitchen that shared a connecting door to our restroom. That was it. Nada mas. Now, having lived in homes that were far bigger than our first home, I was blessed to have been brought up in that casita.

It was all about simplicity. We didn't have much, in terms of furniture or gadgets, but we always had what we needed. Whenever the holidays would roll around, our father would section off a wall and tack up decorations. It was nothing compared to the extravagant displays my brother now puts up, but it satisfied our need for holiday cheer. Whenever my brothers and I would ask for the newest toy, my parents would show us what fun running around outside was. My dad would sit with us and play canicas. He'd show us the rules and terminology needed to really understand the game (something I was never able to do). He taught us all the games he would play when he was younger. Sure, when cousins would come over with their newest hi-tech gadgets (well whatever hi-tech was back then), we'd gasp in awe and marvel at their toys but when they'd leave, they took our curiosity with them. Outta sight, outta mind, was the frame of mind we unknowingly embraced.

I guess I'm an old lady at heart. I yearn for the days when neighbors still visited each other. I miss the days when kids could run around their neighborhood and not worry about what was lurking in the shadows. My dad shares my sentiment...or perhaps I'm the one who shares his.

Recently, I was hanging out at his house. We were sitting outside enjoying the current change in evening temps when he asked me whether I had noticed what was missing. I quickly looked around for my daughter, thinking that's what he was referring to. He told me to take a giant whiff of the evening breeze and asked again, "Do you smell what's absent nowadays?" I was clueless as to what he was talking about and asked him to enlighten me. He went on to explain that when he was a child,  every evening, while he was outside playing with his siblings, there would be an hour when the smell of freshly made tortillas would dance through the barrio air. He said it was like clockwork, someone's mom would be making tortillas for the cena. Que padre! There was none of those wimpy, ready made tortillas that sit in plastic packages at the store. I swear, I really grew up in the wrong time period.....

A lot much has changed since I was a kid. I get scared. I worry about the future my lil girl is going to have. There's no innocence anymore. Kids aren't naive; they know way more about things that they should never have any knowledge of. There are no morals, respect is pretty limited, and sincerity really is a hard nugget to find. I'm not saying that only pertains to the kiddos; more often than not, the adults are a bit worse than the youth...hence the reasoning behind why kids are the way they are. The ways things are going, it makes me think that perhaps this 2012 hoopla really does have some truth to it.

So, going back to the original topic before I totally leaped off it, do I wish my daughter had more than what I had when I was little? Nope. If she grows up experiencing the same kinda childhood I had, she'll be just fine. The lesson my parents instilled in us was that it's not the quantity in life, it's about the quality of life.

I might be the only one thinking like this (well, aside from my dad) but it's what I believe. Sure, it'd be a hard feat to accomplish what with technology taking over and school influences becoming a factor, but as long as I try, my lil girl will be just fine.

But if I had to point out one toy that I really wanted and never got when I was a kid...it'd have to be this one...

of course it was in English....and seemed a lot cooler