Every Morning Conversation Between My Husband and Our Eldest Daughter

In our family, my husband takes our 4-year-old eldest daughter to kindergarten every morning. Before they leave, he always asks her, “Which car shall we take today?” Then she replies with things like,

“The blue Porshe(Porsche)!” or “The white Porshe(white)!” or “Golf!”

and so he drives her to school in whichever car she requests. Sometimes my husband says, “Shall we take the white Porshe today?” but if she says, “No, I want such-and-such,” then they end up going in the car she wants.

Honestly, even I’m amazed at this.

Also, in July, the four of us traveled to the U.S. with our 1-and-a-half-year-old youngest daughter. It was their first time abroad, and they seemed very satisfied(I kept reminding my 4-year-old, ‘Being able to come overseas at your age is really lucky, it’s not something to take for granted,’ which she found annoying, haha).

Looking at the environment surrounding my daughters, I realize how very different it is from the one I grew up in. Thanks to my parents, I had a comfortable childhood and was even able to attend a private university, for which I’m truly grateful. But basically, our family had only one car, we rarely ate out, and I only traveled abroad after entering university by saving money from part-time jobs(well, times were different then, too).

When I was a student, I thought “foreign cars are for people from a different world than mine.” So when I heard a friend’s dad drove a Mercedes, I was shocked and thought, “Wow! She’s really from a wealthy family!” (；ﾟДﾟ)

But for me, growing up with my parents and in that environment was a blessing, and it made me who I am today. So when I see the environment my daughters are in now, it feels extravagant… and sometimes I worry a little about their future.

About Our Daughters’ Future

My husband and I sometimes talk about our daughters’ education philosophy. We don’t have any specific hopes like “We want them to pursue such-and-such profession” or “We want them to become this in the future.” We want them to find what they truly want to do and walk their own path confidently.

So, we have no intention of “pushing them to take entrance exams” or “signing them up for tons of extracurricular lessons.”(If they voluntarily want to take exams or join activities, we might reconsider.)

More than anything, we want to give them plenty of experiences now that will broaden their future choices and possibilities.

At the same time, though, I don’t want them to become “naive little princesses.”

I don’t want them to measure all value just by money, to take things for granted without gratitude, or to think they’re special and act selfishly toward others. Instead, I hope they see the wider world, have various experiences, and taste both the bitter and the sweet, the surface and the hidden sides(the hidden side can be a bit scary), and based on their own experiences and wisdom, truly understand, judge, and choose the value of what’s in front of them.

So I often tell my husband things like “Don’t just buy them a car as soon as they get their license”(If they want a car, they should work part-time or make a case to us) and “Don’t suddenly put them on business class flights”(Economy is fine for starters).

That said, while I say all this to my husband, our youngest daughter, who’s 1 year and 8 months old, still hasn’t weaned… (-_-)

Their Sense of Things Already…

So the other day, I was walking nearby with my eldest daughter when a Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe passed by. I thought, “Oh, an E-Class Coupe is coming!” But as we passed, my daughter loudly said,

That car is so small! (*ﾟ∀ﾟ)!!

…

…No, no, no, no! ((；ﾟДﾟ))!!!!

There were so many things to respond to, I didn’t know where to start, so I hurriedly told her, “No, that car isn’t small at all! It’s actually on the larger side! And it’s a really nice car! Also, you shouldn’t say things like that out loud when passing by someone!” But she just looked at me with a puzzled expression the whole time.

Well, thinking about it, she only said the car was small, and maybe I overreacted…

Since she usually rides in the Panamera, the E-Class probably does seem small to her. Still, I realized her sense of things might already be drifting away from the general public’s, and that scared me. I must be careful so she doesn’t go down the path of becoming a “naive little princess.” That’s something I’m reminding myself of these days.