Lifejotter

With the fall already upon us and with school back in session for the majority of both high school and college students, I cant help but think about how quickly time flies by. And the scary thing is that within no time this year will be over and a new large mass of “graduates” will be unleashed into the real world. Which brings me to my specific blog of the moment.

I am the proud parent of two children myself and one day(if all goes according as planned), I will be standing in the bleachers with other parents and onlookers as my children walk across stages to get their diplomas and hopefully their degrees as well. From what I have been told it is definitely one of the prouder moments in a parents life. And with graduation and everything that follows , the graduation gift always falls into the picture. This is something that has always confused me beyond belief. Not the fact that graduation gifts are expected, but rather the lack of creativity in the gift giving process. Its the typical scene I have seen all to many times and that I agonize over. A graduating student becomes the proud owner of a brand new car from the proud parent , with the proud parent thinking that this gift is something that will express his/her way of saying “Congratulations, job well done!”. Stop the bill for one moment.

My challenge to any type of parent who falls into this “lazy” type of gift giving pattern is to put a little thought into the matter and bend reality a little bit. For the same price of a new Honda Civic (roughly around $15000), a student could be rewarded with something that would be a heck of alot memorable and with stories to tell THEIR children later in life. How about a trip across the world from Airtreks.com to visit all the seven wonders of the world? Far fetched you say? I think not. For the price that a father would shell out to buy a new shiny vehicle(which honestly would get run down in just a few short years), one could pay the way for a parent and his graduating child to visit Beijing, Delhi, Amman, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Cusco, and Cancun . Food and accommodations could be payed for from the remainder of the $15000 after airfare was taken out, and if played right a good quality used car could be bought even after the return home. Its very doable and would provide a once in a lifetime memory for both a very thoughtful parent and I assure you a very thankful student.

Remember that teenagers are smarter than we give them credit for. They can tell when something has been thought out and more often than not would probably appreciate the creativeness put into the effort. The stories and pictures from the trip would be enough to last a lifetime, and it would give any lucky parent/child team the chance to do something that the large majority of families tend abstain from doing……spending some quality time together(and have a heck of an adventure to boot).