Our children make us proud in many different ways. They make us proud in their decision making and when they achieve goals that they’ve set for themselves.

I’ll be honest Dave and I parent in a way that sets the bar high. We know this frustrates our children but we can see them always working to reach it and when they do…

In the thick of parenting four kids when schedules were tight and activities pulled the family different ways I remember something Dave told me when he came home with Andrew from a wrestling meet. Andrew executed a move differently than the way  father and son had practiced but it had the same winning result. During the session Dave had been on the mat encouraging Andrew and when it was over someone asked him “Did he do good enough?” This gave us something to chew on. Were we too hard on the kids?

The Waite kids are self-sufficient. They were raised that way. Earning your own money, paying your own way are life lessons that will take you far. I learned this at a very young age. Money meant independence.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, all four of our children are spoiled in love. They are NOT spoiled in material things. They all had to earn their keep, with chores and had pay bills as soon as they were old enough to get jobs and want for things we didn’t provide. If they wanted a cell phone they had a bill to pay. If they wanted a car, that was their expense. Gas for the car? You got it, they paid for it. Insurance, their bill as well. Good grades earned them discounts and loans in their name gave them a small taste of what was to come when they grew up.

We are proud of each of our kids and what they’ve accomplished. As well as all they know at the ages they are. They know how to budget, how impulse buying can wreck a budget and that prior planning puts the horse ahead of the cart. They have pride in finding good deals and aren’t ashamed to use coupons and wait for sales. 

A couple of them have had two jobs and gone to school at the same time. A testament to earning ones own way and feeling the pride from it.

In June of 2016 Emily got her first vehicle. For this she got a small loan and dutifully paid it. Her initial excitement for her first car wore off as it started to deteriorate and her peers drove nicer cars. We saw her drive it less and less to a point where it would just sit in the driveway for days at a time. She never complained about it to us and it seemed someone was always able to get her to wherever she needed to be.

In the spring of 2018 Emily was a junior in high school and sixteen years old. She worked at the store with her Dad as many hours as she could and watched her savings grow. That spring DW Developments took down a decrepit building and started a project. Emily enjoys working with her Dad and learning new things and when he ask her if she wanted to help she was all for it. Most of the time she cleaned or unloaded supplies, restacked things in the garages and helped with the landscaping by digging holes and spreading bags upon bags of mulch. When this project was finished her savings had really grown working both jobs. It was pretty impressive for someone her age. Manual labor and the fruits of that labor is something she won’t soon forget.

DW went on to do another project that she helped with and this time she got to be part of the destruction. She came home several nights covered in dust so deep it changed her hair color and made her eyes stand out. Her once long and beautifully painted fingernails were torn and destroyed but she came home happy about what she’d accomplished and ready to start again the next day.

Fast forward to fall of 2020 and loading up her neglected, but fully paid for SUV for college. With our car packed, I rode with Emily and Dave led the way. We took the two-lane roads instead of the interstate with its high speed and busy, weaving traffic. I noticed the shake of her car at certain speeds and when we stopped for lunch I think the car needed the break as much as we did.

Dave and Emily had weighed the pros and cons of getting something different but it didn’t seem necessary if all the car would do was sit in a student allowed parking lot and only be used once in a while. Plus, Emily liked her savings account and wasn’t ready to part with it yet.

Of course, the virus interrupted her in class schooling and Emily and said car returned home. She took her first semester off from work to see how online classes would go and get her barring’s. She could pay her bills with her savings and spend little money. She worked during winter break and built back up what she’d lost.

Off and on she’d search new cars but was never in a hurry. Sarah would send her options and eventually the girls went for some test drives.

Now to March 2021, Emily started a second job two weeks ago. One in her field of finance. She’s now working as a teller at a local bank. She is as organized a person as you’ve ever seen with her appointment book and every hour (and minute) spoken for. Last week she worked at the bank thirty hours, at the store twenty two and is a full time student on the deans list. She even manages to babysit here and there. She packs her lunch the night before and a change of clothes to wear from one job to the other. She’s efficient and a go getter.

This week we feel a special kind of pride in our Emily.

I think with starting the new job and the new work wardrobe she purchased to go with it, she started to see the value in purchasing a newer vehicle.

With the trade of the family roadster (a little sad to see her go) Emily wrote out a check for the FULL amount of her new car. A check that took her savings down considerably but didn’t deplete it. She said she didn’t want a loan that she’d have to pay interest on and she had the money. She had a price in mind for what she could spend and with tax, title and license it was just over eight thousand dollars! Our 19-year-old just bought a car outright! This is where the proud Mamma tears start.

Raising kids is tough and tough love nearly breaks your heart. Sure, we could have bought them those bedazzled jeans or Buckle shirts but instead we gave them the fair price we would pay for a pair of jeans or off brand clothing and they made up the difference if it was important enough to them. The kids always had the essentials and never went hungry which is more than I could say as a kid.

Knowing your value and striving towards a goal, then reaching it is worth another dance, don’t you think Emily Jean? (she’s gonna kill me for this 😉

Dad and I are really proud of you. Love you kid!