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[quote=Anonymous]Both DH and I grew up poor. (He's from a remote village in another country and I was poor and in-and-out of foster care in the US.) We are now solidly middle-class though our families of origin are a mix of poor and middle now. We are expecting our first child and recently gave small presents to the children in our family for Easter. Not surprisingly, the children from the poorer families were truly thrilled, even by the relatively tiny gifts. Even now they are still thanking us and sending us pictures of them playing with the toys. The middle class child, OTOH, said thank you only when pressed by his parents and hasn't touch the toy we gave him since. He has so many toys that one more means nothing. It is just such a stark difference. I remember cherishing the gifts that were given to me as a child, as does DH. And I wonder if our child will ever feel that way, that total joy at the littlest thing? Or if s/he will have so much that everything will be taken for granted. I realize this is totally crazy, but it made me realize that my child's life is going to be very different from mine. And while I'm glad s/he will eat regularly and not worry about whether they will have a bed to sleep in that night, there are things about my childhood that were good too and that I want my child to experience - like true gratitude for small happinesses. For those of you with older children, who also grew up poor, how do you handle this? Do you ever wish your kids could have some (obviously not all) of the experiences you had? [/quote]

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