being a father, i somehow have become my parents. not everything about them, but some quirks and such. here's one such reason:
since it is summer, the days are hot and the nights warm. perfect time for the "ice cream man". that stupid song playing throughout the neighborhood that permanently leaves itself planted in my brain. i sit in my backyard, watching the kids play and off i hear it in the distance, slowly moving towards our house. getting louder and more intense.
it makes me think back when i was a child and i asked for money for that icy cool treat. my parents would say "you have to use your allowance." but did i use it? no. why would i? it is their responsibility to buy me ice cream. not mine. soon, the temptation would be too great for me to pass and i would go running into my room, grab out my bank and pull out some quarters. then, full bore, rip through the front door, and track that stupid truck down.
before long, my money (and ice cream) would be gone. i had nothing to show for saving my allowance. later, i would catch on that it was a "learning experience" that my parents somehow put together. they would tell me that for the price of one bar from the ice cream man, they can purchase a whole box and there would be some for everyone.
now, am i the same way toward my kids? no, not entirely. my tastes are still expensive...ask rin...but i haven't ran towards the ice cream man with the children in tow, telling him to stop. but, i do know that i can purchase a gallon of ice cream and some side stuff and still have enough leftover for a couple others times, instead of one trip and one treat. now, applying that to the rest of my life? easier said than done. . .
since it is summer, the days are hot and the nights warm. perfect time for the "ice cream man". that stupid song playing throughout the neighborhood that permanently leaves itself planted in my brain. i sit in my backyard, watching the kids play and off i hear it in the distance, slowly moving towards our house. getting louder and more intense.
it makes me think back when i was a child and i asked for money for that icy cool treat. my parents would say "you have to use your allowance." but did i use it? no. why would i? it is their responsibility to buy me ice cream. not mine. soon, the temptation would be too great for me to pass and i would go running into my room, grab out my bank and pull out some quarters. then, full bore, rip through the front door, and track that stupid truck down.
before long, my money (and ice cream) would be gone. i had nothing to show for saving my allowance. later, i would catch on that it was a "learning experience" that my parents somehow put together. they would tell me that for the price of one bar from the ice cream man, they can purchase a whole box and there would be some for everyone.
now, am i the same way toward my kids? no, not entirely. my tastes are still expensive...ask rin...but i haven't ran towards the ice cream man with the children in tow, telling him to stop. but, i do know that i can purchase a gallon of ice cream and some side stuff and still have enough leftover for a couple others times, instead of one trip and one treat. now, applying that to the rest of my life? easier said than done. . .
posted by tenacious phenmonkey at 1:12 PM
6 Comments:
aw, geez. sigh.
i know your allowance didn't "allow" for as much junk as you bought from the ice cream man. and i wasn't cheap to keep quiet. (i knew how to save and still get the goodies.) where did you get all that money, anyway?
i don't know...after you horked all my coinage, i barely had enough for sweets.
i never 'horked your coinage'! i merely required dip it stix for my silence. i put MY OWN coinage into my savings account and never spent a penny.
"horking coinage" is a conglomerate of how you atain my money...even though you may not have touched it, it became yours once you started the whole blabbering, or the threatening of blabbering.
"attain" your money... i never got a penny! i was merely encouraging you to save YOUR money and i used the simple threat of spending a few cents on me, or else i'd bring mom & dad in on the encouragement also, for motivation. and there-in lies a lie. you said that your parents said "you have to use your own allowance" but you knew you'd get in trouble if you bought from ye ol' truck. thus, the need to silence a sister with dip stix, and me, my encouraging role.... but let's not delve any further.
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