Children Understanding the Time-Money Tradeoff

If I had to sum up our summer on this last day of August, this is it:

You can have time or money, but rarely both.

This was the summer when Caroline really understood for the first time what it means to have more money and less Daddy.

David and I made the decision long ago that time and relationships were more important than money. We’ve had to live with that choice – both the good and the bad – and embrace the results of our choices. But like many children, our daughter hadn’t fully comprehended what that choice has meant in her life. That changed this summer.

Twelve weeks ago, David applied for a contract work position on a publishing project that was supposed to be 4+ weeks. He was selected to be part of a large team of graphic designers (30+). Four weeks went into five and then six and then…. Here we are in week 11 and he believes it will extend at least through the end of September. This is on top of laying out the latest issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and all of his regular clients who have needed help with various projects.

Let me be clear. I am NOT complaining about the amount of work. I’m not complaining at all. We are profoundly thankful for this work. It’s enabled us to take care of multiple things in our life. We had an entire summer of not wondering where the work would be coming from and it has been wonderful, especially since David’s adjunct position has been eliminated and I closed my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

The flip side is that Caroline has learned what it’s like to have a Daddy who works more than full-time for weeks (and now months) on end. It’s been educational for her to realize how many hours someone must work to pay for certain things and what that means for the rest of the family.

So our list of house projects for the summer? Almost nothing got done.

My lengthy list of ideas for this website? Almost nothing got done.

And it’s okay. Maybe the biggest accomplishment of all was for our daughter to realize on a deeper level how life choices make a tremendous difference in the life you live. If that is the one big non-tangible that comes out of this summer, then it was all worth it.