Spring Break

With the start of March during a high schooler's senior year comes the inevitable longing for the requisite beach trip during the Spring Break. Princess Penelope is no different. I, however, cannot afford a trip to the beach at this time. The Princess is smart though, and has a way around that. She is planning to go with some friends. One of her friend's parents has a beach place so the cost of a place to stay is covered.

There is a chaperon going, so I'm not horribly concerned (other than the normal basic parental freakout) that it will be a week filled with debauchery and such. The Princess has also proven herself to be smart, capable and responsible in terms of behavior --- and I know that in roughly 6 months when I send her off to school, I will have little control over her choices other than the purse strings and having faith that I've taught her right from wrong. So, having faith in her isn't the hard thing. (There's also the fact that the tweets and facebook postings from the girls that are going have focused more on sun, sand and tans than the "PAR-TAY" aspect of a Spring Break trip, so that makes me feel a bit better).

However, even with the free place to stay, the trip will cost $100 (gas, groceries) plus spending money. Since the Princess spent pretty much every penny she had at Disney World (this trip wasn't planned at the time), she's basically broke or I would have her assume some of the cost. With Spring Break only 2 weeks away, there isn't much time for her to save, so it looks like the money will need to come from the Bank of Mom. I've already told her that she's going to have to pick up some extra chores around here to offset some of the cost. If I'm going to have to stress over that extra $100 hit to my budget, she's going to help ease my stress around the house more than normal.

So, the time is just about here. Time to give her the trust that she has, in fact, earned. And time to figure out where that extra $100 is going to come from! Yikes.