A Special Day

Yesterday was my son’s birthday and as usual he did not want to have a party. He just went out with few friends to eat at their favorite restaurant and then he went shopping.  He always gets a certain amount of money on his birthday and then he buys whatever he wants. Yesterday was special for him because he had bought his first laptop out of the money he saved from Christmas, weekly allowances and the birthday money he got yesterday. He had been looking forward for the day to come. Finally, he achieved his goal!

It was early last year and he really wanted to own a laptop, and he knew his dad won’t buy it for him. As my husband would say “you don’t need a laptop, we already have a PC at home”. My son thought, having a laptop would be a big help for him as a college student.

One day he told me he will start saving his money, no more eating out, going to the movies and taxi rides until he reaches his goal. As a mom I gave him moral support and encouragement and at the same time told him not to go overboard, “enjoy life a little bit too” I said. Sometimes he came home very hungry because he didn’t eat lunch; he did not want to spend money for food if he could. He had some ups and downs too, when his cell phone broke and he needed to buy a new one and when there was a school activity that he needed to join and had to spend some money and so on. He never got discouraged, just modified his plan a bit then continued saving. We always talk about the day when he finally would go to the computer store to buy the laptop; then bring it home; show his dad what he got and seeing the reaction on his dad’s face while looking at the laptop flabbergasted.

As a mom, it’s a joy to see the transformation of your once young child slowly growing into a mature individual. He developed self-discipline and patience and learned frugality from this new experience and discovered that there’s a reward at the end of the tunnel. I used to worry about his ability to save money because before, as soon as he received his birthday or Christmas money, the next day he would want to spend it right away. Now I can rest assured that he will be okay with his finances especially when he will be on his own. For me as a mom I enjoyed watching him evolve into a fine young man. I should be taking my bow, for I know I raised him well. 

Happy birthday son!