One Philly Daddy and I subscribe to the philosophy that it is crucial to provide the very best that we can for One Philly Son (and any future additions). Of course, I imagine most parents feel this way.
We live in a great school district and have hoped to afford a larger house within said school district. But also agree, whatever One Philly Son would need,we would do our best to provide, whether that means tutors or classes or whatever. We have memberships to the Philadelphia Zoo, Please Touch Museum, and Sesame Place. I take him to storytime at the library and plan to sign him up for music or tumbling classes in the Spring.
This past weekend we went to The Little Treehouse and a Valentine Party with Elmo at Sesame Place.
All of these activities are fun, but also expose One Philly Son to the ideas of play, imagination, sharing, socializing, boundaries, and much more.
But they cost money too. One Philly Daddy and I are very, very blessed to have the means to provide these activities for our family, and I'm aware of how lucky we are.

Beyond financial means, there is also the philosophical outlook that we have in common. We do not subscribe to "children should be seen and not heard" or "spare the rod and spoil the child" or any of those. For us, love, affection, honesty, and trust are building blocks (we hope) to a great person.

As we left Sesame Place yesterday I asked One Philly Daddy if he thought it was "worth it" since One Philly Son will not remember any of these early year efforts. He responded that of course it was, and that if it didn't matter then it wouldn't matter anything that happened the first three years of anyone's life. And the professional consensus seems to be that those years are crucial for developing the foundations for trust, communication, health, and even things like interest in reading and eating vegetables.

So we'll continue carting One Philly Son places that make him smile, excited and happy. We'll remind him slides are for going down, to share, take his turn, to not throw things and to be gentle with others. We'll read books and put veggies on his plate everyday.

The price of admission is well worth it.