08/23/2026
I read this today and thought I would share.
Somewhere along the way, giving your kids a good childhood became a financial competition.
Birthday parties became events.
Rec sports became travel sports.
School clothes became brands.
A family vacation became something you feel like you need to document.
A first phone became a $1,000 phone.
Summer became camps, tournaments, lessons, trips, and a calendar so full nobody actually gets a summer.
Christmas became a small retail operation in your living room.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, a lot of good parents started quietly wondering:
Am I doing enough?
Here's the part I think we forget.
Most of my best childhood memories weren't expensive.
They were riding bikes until dark.
Eating at my grandparents' house.
Playing ball in the yard.
Going fishing.
Watching the same movies over and over.
Family dinners.
Road trips.
Sleeping on the floor at a cousin's house.
Getting ice cream after something ordinary.
None of it looked impressive.
Most of it probably wouldn't have made a very good Instagram post.
But it felt like childhood.
I'm not against nice vacations, travel sports, new shoes, or giving your kids opportunities. If you can afford those things and your family enjoys them, great.
But parents are being sold a really expensive lie:
That the more money you spend creating childhood, the better childhood you're giving them.
It isn't true.
Kids need experiences.
They need traditions.
They need people who show up.
They need laughter, security, attention, boundaries, and a place that feels like home.
Some of those things cost money.
The most important ones usually don't.
