Most would agree that being a parent is tough. Every day is a new challenge, a new adventure, a new skill, problem behavior or new accomplishment. Some days include all of these. A great friend of mine said parenting is tough because "the days are long but the years are short" nothing has ever been truer. I find myself counting down the minutes to bedtime so I can get a moment to do work but once we get to that time I'm so tired I get nothing done, including quality time with my family. 

While driving in the car with my (almost) four-year-old to preschool he said: "momma, we need to get a better house". After a few questions, I discovered that he wanted a bigger house, one with a playroom and other amenities that we do not have, nor could afford on a two teacher salary household. I wanted to agree with him as I too would love to have a new fancy house but as many of our conversations go I paused to think about my reply and he changed the subject to something else.  I knew he would mention it again and I relentlessly continued to prepare my response. It is one that even surprises me and has become a way to help me keep perspective. 

Two days after the initial conversation I picked up my son from preschool and again he mentioned that his friend has a large house with stairs, a playroom, and multiple bathrooms. I explained that while we might not have everything we want we certainly have everything we need. This did not satisfy the weight of four-year-old peer pressure and as he mentioned each item in our house that needed to be updated we talked about how much fun it will be to fix it together, as a family.