Money Money Money Money...Money!

So here's my dear daughter hitting me up again for guess what...MONEY! Her girlfriend's parents have invited her to spend a week at a beach. Hubby and I think it's to return a favor when their daughter spent the week with us at the beach as well, and picked up all of the girl's meals. But then, my daughter, as much income potential she has at the moment due to a very liberal good grades incentive program, seems to never have any money left! I dunno...I truly think that kids of today live in a world of entitlement. Being that I wasn't even born here nor raised here makes it even more difficult for me to comprehend the inability of kids of today to have any motivation to provide for themselves things that are bought with discretionary income.

If my kids were to read this blog, they'd probably whine and say..."Oh nooooo, not that story again!" but this time, it isn't for them anyhow!

I was from a very middle income family but because my parents wanted the best education for me and my sisters, they sent us to Catholic private school. Sure they were mortgaged to the max, but it was worth it...to them anyway. Many years later as an adult, I am still grateful to my parents for making the sacrifices that they did back then, even when there were many times I was resentful of being poor in a place surrounded by the rich.

I never had an allowance...that was pretty glaring to me as an 8 year old. I mean, I had to bring lunch (the same rice & marinated beef steak gig) in a tin lunch box everyday. I drooled over the nice plastic lunch boxes of my classmates, with dividers and dessert, and Maggi soy sauce to dip their fried chicken in! Well, in my 8-year old mind, even if I seethe inside that I can't have what the rich prep girls have, I did not rebel, whine and banter my parents to give me what I don't have, simply because, I knew very early on that they can't...they just can't. The fact that they bring home little bite-sized Van Houten chocolates for us to split among ourselves is surely a sign that we are by no means on equal footing with everyone else in school. But instead of moping, I swore that I would find a way to raise my own allowance by hook or by crook. Well, this I had to do in a manner that would be acceptable to Sister Dorothy, the kind gentle American principal, and Sister Gertrude, the tall, German head of the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit. Sister Gertrude instilled a fear in all of us "native" girls. She was twice as tall as we were and always wore those bottle-green eyeglasses (so we can't see her eyes!) and her voice really boomed when she would, arms akimbo, ask us "And whhhhheeeere do you think you are going?" if we somehow manage to loiter around the chapel area by accident! She gave us the creeps and we scampered outta there in a hurry each time!

Many of my entitled, rich, spoiled friends bought soda everyday. There were crates all over campus and everyone was encouraged to either return your empties to the cafeteria and get 10 cents back deposit, or, if 10 cents means nothing to you, at least put it in the crates so the custodial services can round them up at the end of the day. It isn't rocket science to figure out that bottles around elementary school students is a bad idea!

As expected, very few would turn it their empties for a mere 10 cents! So, I thought that I should at least get the deposit for every unclaimed bottle there. Everyday for many days, I would pick up a crate and bring it to the cafeteria and tell them that I would fill that crate with bottles I picked up around the grounds. Everyday, after school, I would go around and pick up bottles and make as many trips as I had to to fill up the crate. The sun was hot, my feet ached in ill-fitting cheap shoes, but I was determined to have money of my own.

One day, Security Bank officers came to school and told us about how to open a savings account with just 2 pesos ($2 if I compare). The handed out a cardboard book in the shape of a pig...inside it were slots where you can insert a ten cent coin. When it was filled up, they will come and take the piggy book and return to you your own savings account passbook. WOW! I remembered the joy of seeing my name in this little blue book. I remembered the smell of this little blue book! For the next 10 years, I found the time and the ways to make my own money, and by the time I was a junior in high school, I had 1000 pesos! I knew then as I know now, that there is nothing that would stop me from being able to give me anything I could possibly want. I knew then that I didn't have to count on anyone. I know now that poverty did not mean I would be poor forever, and that everything was really for the most part, up to me and me alone!

I believe today, this word is called personal responsibility. I am still trying to instill this in my kids. However, being in America, I am finding it to be an uphill battle. Surrounded by everything that's there to be got, my kids (unfortunately) may never get to experience the euphoria of an 8 year old who learned very early the meaning of sweat-equity!

I can't count on someone to make me feel good! Feeling good starts with myself!