You ladies who are passing these lessons on to your children are SO SMART. One day they will rise up and call you blessed. (Well, a parent can dream.)
My parents taught me many good things, and I am most appreciative that they taught me how to do without. It has been a great lesson and served me well through the years. You can always get used to having more, but it's rare to find a person who can get used to having less material stuff.
I am traveling across the country to visit my parents today (ages 85 and 89). They raised 3 kids, put us through college, and now they are making more money just from their retirement investments than they can spend. All this on my dad's meager government salary. My mother once noted, "Now that we have more money than we need, I just can't get used to spending it." What a hoot!