They look cute and innocent, but they are thieves… As they perch atop the bookshelf they are thinking we humans are fools spending money on dolls, clothes, accessories and furniture that could have been put into savings for college tuition!
Years ago when my four children were young I provided some in-home daycare after school for a little girl who was about nine. She brought her American Girl catalog to show me and I gasped at the prices. I thought I would NEVER be able to provide something like that for my two daughters. Money was always tight, some weeks I wasn’t sure how I would buy diapers!
Jump ahead several years and my husband had served his time in contract marketing and was promoted to district manager. Suddenly our finances had become less stressful. We were able to tithe while having enough left over to live in a nice home AND buy nice toys for Christmas.
I guess the fact that I grew up with just two dolls, Velvet (whose hair grew) and Tubsy (the baby doll) made me want to live vicariously through my daughters. They each started out with one American Girl doll, but soon we acquired more. We got to visit the American Girl Place in both Chicago and New York on trips. It is amazing how much they charge for one outfit or little accessory pack but it was so fun on Christmas morning to see the pretty little boxes and the joy on my daughter’s faces.
As I organized all the doll clothes in a huge Rubbermaid tub and had Sarah dress them in their Christmas finery, I realized how carried away we had gotten. All that money spent for a small amount of time in their lives. Someday I hope I have granddaughters so they can enjoy the wonderful collection!
As my husband writes the big fat tuition checks for our middle kids who are attending an expensive, but fabulous private university (http://www.whitworth.edu/) I bet he’d like to mail them one of our dolls with her wardrobe. I wonder what they’d think.
So, all you mommies, be careful. Do not forget that although your girls will love their American Girls now, they’ll also want to attend college someday.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19,20
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