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I'm just wondering: Why did you have to pick that expensive place for my son's end-of-season soccer party? That, of course, is on top of the money I had to contribute for the coach’s gifts.
I appreciate the effort you have put into the season and the work you’ve done without pay for the boys. And certainly we want the coaches to be thanked for their service with a nice signed photo, handwritten cards or something meaningful and heart-felt.

But apparently you and other team moms who are lucky enough to have jobs, or who have the luxury of staying home while your husbands work, seem to be unaware that we have 10 percent unemployment in this country! It’s even higher where I live. And many more people are underemployed, with jobs that barely cover the rent.

It’s not like we’re rocket scientists, where cutting corners could jeopardize missions to the Moon.

It’s little kids. It’s soccer. Please. My company cut my wages this year, and I lost my part-time job that paid for luxuries like overpriced end-of-season sports parties.

The smug complacency of people who just keep on finding ways for me to spend my money is annoying.

There’s no reason that every sports event has to be held in some pricey arcade.

When did soccer and Little League become irretrievably linked with video games, anyway? At Cheetah Boy’s last game, I remember overhearing some dad telling the Team Mom, “I know my wife told you we can’t afford it, but we can,” and handing her over some cash. Well, that sop to his manly pride was probably money that his wife was planning to use for something unimportant. Like groceries.

Recently, at Cheetah Boy’s Boy Scout meeting, one of the dads complained to me about those people, i.e. parents who were griping about the cost and asking if it could be cheaper.

Well, hello, wake up, Daddy-O! Just because you have a highly paid, secure professional job doesn’t mean everyone else does. Instead of sneering at people because they are finding Boy Scout trips too expensive, maybe you should find ways to cut the budget. Our troop actually is pretty flush. It can be done.

I was shocked this weekend to notice another big store in my neighborhood shopping center go dark. That’s three stores, just in our little center, that are empty now.

Next time you’re planning some event that kids are going to be required to attend, keep in mind that their parents might have worked in one of those stores.

I don’t let my kids play video games at home, yet I’m supposed to be forced to shell out big bucks for them to play them at the arcade, just so they can attend their end-of-season parties.
Well, why can’t we have that party at the same field where they played soccer? There’s a picnic table there. We can bring potluck.

Then no one will be forced to spend money they don’t have just to avoid disappointing their kids.

Or you can come to my house. I’ll even clean it for the occasion. Believe me, that’ll be a first.

——— Marla Jo Fisher was a workaholic before she adopted two foster kids several years ago. Now she juggles work and single parenting, while being exhorted from everywhere to be thinner, smarter, sexier, healthier, more frugal, a better mom, better dressed and a tidier housekeeper. Contact her at mfisher@ocregister.com. Read her blog at http://themomblog.freedomblogging.com/category/frumpy-middleaged-mom-marla-jo-fisher/.