The Midas Touch

Lately, my daughter has been talking a lot about some of her friends being rich. She thinks that two of her friends have Bill Gates-type wealth. In the case of a friend she met from camp, her friend told her that "her daddy is almost rich!" My daughter assumes that they are really wealthy. In the case of her friend from school, she had a playdate at his house. He had a really cool dinosaur toy that my daughter wanted. After we arrived home, I looked the toy up and realized that it cost over $150, which was too expensive for us to buy. Because her friend's family could afford the toy, she's convinced they're richer than us.

I've been trying to explain to her that her friends may very well have about the same amount of money that we have. Her friend from camp doesn't really know her family's wealth. In the case of her school friend, they seem to have a similar type house as us and live a similar lifestyle. I told her that people choose to spend their money in different ways. For example, her dino-friend went to a less-expensive summer camp than she did.

We also told her that some families save more money, while others spend more money. It's all about setting priorities. We also stressed that money isn't everything. There were some things even more important than money, like love. My daughter nodded and said that this reminded her of a story from Greek mythology where a king wanted to be rich. Everything he touched turned to gold, which was great. Until one day, he accidentally touched his daughter who turned to gold. The king realized that all the gold in the world isn't as important as having love in your life. I mentioned that sounded like the story of Midas. My husband complimented our daughter on how she picked a story that perfectly illustrated the point we were making. However, he went on to say, I don't think Midas is from Greek mythology!

Later that night, my husband looked up the Midas story and found out our daughter was correct about it coming from Greek mythology. He apologized to her the next day and said he should know better than to correct her!

I hope first grade won't be too boring for her!