Cost of Parenting

I have spent my fair share of hard earned dollars on bottles, burp rags and bibs. I have supported Huggies through three babies; two of them boys who didn’t like the words, “potty training.” My home will never have enough bookshelf space to hold the overwhelming number of books that seem to find their way into our lives (tonight we brought home 10 more). Doctor appointments. Vaccinations. Haircuts. Summer Camps. Athletics. School – uniforms, supplies, lunches.

I think you get the point. Parenting costs an exorbitant amount of money. But it also costs something else.

I love being a mom, but I don’t always love the responsibility of making wise decisions as I try to teach my boys in ways that will guide them as they grow to young men.

Yesterday we spent the day at my sister’s house, playing games, eating pizza and m&ms and enjoying each other. I was snapping a few pictures and wanted one of Cameron and I. He asked to have the camera, so we put our faces close together, he reached his arm out and snapped. I figured the camera would be a little too close, so I asked him to give the camera to his dad so we could have a better picture. As he reached forward to hand off the camera, it dropped.

Now I don’t know about you, but I hate error messages and this time was no exception. The camera read, “Lens Error. Restart Camera.” We got out the user guide, checked the Table of Contents, but no troubleshooting. There wasn’t anything that talked about restarting the camera. We – my sister – investigated a little further and discovered that the lens was bent. No more camera.

Did I mention that the camera belonged to my stepmom? How about the fact that her brother is getting married on Friday? That gives me five days to remedy our problem.

I found out that repairing the camera would cost around the same as purchasing a new one, so at least the course of action was determined. But what to do…make Cameron pay for it? make him pay half? just take care of it and not make him do anything? After all, it was simply an accident. He wasn’t throwing the camera or tossing it to his dad. He wasn’t being irresponsible or careless. He simply dropped it. I mean, we all spill things and drop things. We trip, we stutter, we add sugar instead of flour to recipes (well, at least some of us). Accidents happen.

Do I really want to make Cameron spend his hard earned and time consuming savings on an accident? The answer is “No. I don’t.” So, tonight Cameron and I went to Sears and I bought, with Cameron right by my side to hear the total, a replacement. At one point while we were waiting on the salesman, Cameron told me, “Mom, you could make me pay for this. I am the one who dropped it.” I agreed with him and was impressed by him. He understood the meaning of responsibility.

I didn’t spend any money on him tonight as we stopped by the video game shop and bookstore and he knew why. I had already spent money on him by taking care of his mishap.

Tonight the cost of parenting was $190 + change (and not just the monetary kind).