Ron Lieber’s 4-Year-Old Demands Summer Home Answers

Max Abelson — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:22:53 -0400

The week began with a very big magazine story about New York City parents who loathe parenting, and will end with an article in tomorrow's Times called 'Daddy, Are We Rich?' and Other Tough Questions by the Your Money columnist Ron Lieber. The piece, which is a much happier affair than its predecessor, opens cinematically: "[M]y 4-year-old daughter a few weeks ago stomped her feet, turned red and demanded to know why we did not own a summer house."

Kids today! Mr. Lieber reports that he was flabbergasted, but that his wifeTimes journalist and former power punk Jodi Kantor—had an answer. She calmly explained "that if we had spent money on a second home, our daughter wouldn’t have been able to go to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this year or on a beach vacation."

The lesson of the week, obviously, is that parenting is hard, even true for adults with extremely comfortable living situations: Mr. Lieber ends his column with the story of two men whose children complained about extra real estate.

Observer » Ron Lieber’s 4-Year-Old Demands Summer Home Answers

Ron Lieber’s 4-Year-Old Demands Summer Home Answers