While we’re waiting for the economy to rise again, what do families do for kicks? Most moms I know don’t seem to be in a hurry to blow money by taking in attractions around town like they used to. Without the zoo, movies and even shopping trips, how do we keep our kids entertained? I wonder what my dad would have thought of that question.

My dad grew up during the Great Depression. His father was an electrician, and he fortunately worked throughout

the economic crisis, but there just wasn’t much money to go around. Even the families who had it relatively good were not living high on the hog — compared to today’s standards. Dad always seemed sad when he talked about it. Of course, coming of age during World War II and then raising a family in the 1950s, his childhood probably did seem grim, looking back. By the time I was born in the 1970s, the comparison must have seemed an impossible gulf between poverty and prosperity.

On the other hand, entertainment was much lower tech in the ’30s than it is today. Toy cars, a ball and a bat, a bicycle — these were the building blocks of my father’s imagination. His entire generation grew up fishing, working, doing chores, reading comic books and listening to the family radio. Did you know board games were invented during the Great Depression? I’m pretty sure Monopoly was the Wii of its day. (Try that line on your kids — I dare ya.)

Being self-employed for years, my own family’s economic status has always been an adventure. There have been plenty of times when we’ve not been able to afford the latest, greatest trip, toy, experience — you name it. A $250 Lego set? No way! And we’ve still not gone to Florida to meet the mouse.

Still, my kids are spoiled — they have more toys than they can ever play with. I could remove three boxes of them right now from their playroom, and they wouldn’t notice a difference. And what does this prove?

The kid with the most toys is not the winner. If we’ve trained our kids to whine for new toys, we need to understand what they really want — to do something different. They want to learn, they want to experience new things. Is it any wonder kids are suckers for the Internet and its vast library of resources?

Another thing kids value is your time. They don’t need a marketable “experience” to spend time with you. A roadtrip, an amusement park, even a trip to McDonald’s can be an extravagant waste if your focus is on the wrong aspect. Kids are thrilled to take a sandwich to the park and go for a walk with you — maybe even feed the ducks the part of the sandwich they don’t like. They get to be with you — and they don’t see you as someone desperately scrambling to pay bills or worried about keeping his job. They just see you as their mom or dad, and they’re thrilled to learn you share their love of throwing rocks off a bridge or racing down a steep hill.

Kids are good sports. Kids don’t have any money, either (at least usually). Kids who have to help out around the house to earn their allowance can make sense of why their parents must work. They might not like you working two jobs, but they’ll have a frame of reference if you’re teaching them about money by requiring them to earn it.

Don’t underestimate the value of quality time with extended family and friends, either. So, you can’t afford a night at the movies right now. How about having the neighbors over for Euchre after dinner? You get to socialize for cheap, and your kids get to play with their kids. Everybody wins.

The economy is going to bounce back; it always does. The fact is, we don’t know how long it will take. Insular living inside a bubble of convenience is going by the wayside for most of the moms and dads I know. The day will come when everyone’s making up for lost time in terms of consumer purchasing, but what about lost time with your kids? Will you want them to remember their childhoods during this time as part of a grim memory?

My father never forgot his upbringing during the Great Depression. If we’re smart, we’ll give our kids more to remember than what they went without. And if we’re lucky, they’ll come out of this with way more than money can buy.



Leslea M. Harmon is a freelance writer in New Albany. Wife of one and mother of three, she can be reached at Leslea.Harmon@gmail.com or followed at twitter.com/LMHarmon.