Be different

I feel pretty guilty about putting all those toys in the trash yesterday. Not because my children have less but because I didn't set anything aside for charity. We always try to give what can be reused to a charity but all that stuff I threw out was truly junk. My children got onto me too for not giving the toys to charity. They are very familiar with the concept that some families are less fortunate than ours and some families are more fortunate than ours. I think that most children grow up with the idea that every other family is just like their own. I think it's important for me to teach my children that others are different so that I can encourage them to be patient and tolerant of people that are not the same as they are. I agree that there are some things in life that our children should be sheltered from until they are the appropriate age to deal with it, however I think that's only for extreme things. I remember being about school age, maybe 5 years old, and thinking to myself, "I know what's going on around me and these grown ups think I don't have a clue." I made a pact with myself to remember that moment and treat my children the way I wanted to be treated as a child. I want my children to grow up in reality. I think it's stupid to shelter them from the real world their entire life and then send them off at 18 to figure it out for themselves. At least by teaching them about how the world really is and how there are all different kinds of people in it I can help them process it and appreciate it. I have yet to see any family that is the same as any other and it just seems silly to let my children grow up thinking everyone else is just like them. Nevertheless, I feel bad about putting the toys in the trash, but they really were garbage. Now my house is so clean I don't want to let anyone else live in it with me!