Watching our political leaders wrangle over the debt ceiling bill reminded me of breaking up the stupid fights my kids used to have when they were little. You know, the ones that you stumbled into the middle of when it was just a barrage of he said, she said; he did, she did. All the parenting books say you should turn around, walk out of the room, and let them handle it. Looking back, I think my eight and ten year-olds did an infinitely better job of working things out than any of our esteemed leaders.
Like a lot of people, I was so disappointed in our legislators' behavior over the last two weeks that I finally broke down and sent off a scathing e-mail to my representative. I'm sure it never made its way to her desk but it did make me feel a little better. In it, I chastised her and her colleagues for wasting the nation's time and money debating what should be clear to anyone with an ounce of common sense. As we've tried to teach our children from day one (hopefully), don't spend what you don't have. When faced with lean times, tighten your belt and learn to live within your means. Just like there's only one real answer to weight loss - eat less, move more; there's only two ways to have more disposable income - find a way to make more and/or spend less.
Of course, if all else fails, you can do what our illustrious leaders tend to do - bury their heads in the sand and print more money. With an example like that, we parents don't stand a chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment