There is a time to stay and a time to go.
Everybody loves the county fair! There is artery clogging fried foods, sweets to put you on sugar overload, and games of chance to beckon you with their wiles. What’s not to love? Well, there are two aspects of a county fair, one is that of the spectator, the second is the aspect of the participant. The county fair is a great opportunity for many kids to show how hard they have worked in completing their projects whatever they may be. There is a very long list of possibilities, aquatics, beekeeping, cow and calf, dog, ETC… You do get where this is going right? Completing a project takes diligence and paperwork. They have to keep a record of the expenditures and time they spent on every project, then these records must be turned in by the end of the fair. While the 4H children enjoy their time at the fair very much, it nonetheless requires a great amount of work before, during, and after.
Tomorrow will be the last day of the fair, and the animals and other projects will go home and be put away. Memories have been made, along with friendships, dedication and speeches have been made over the loss of a fellow member. But the time is waning, children and parents are tired, and patience is wearing thin, and running short.
I couldn’t help but notice how expensive everything is the fair. While the food smells and tastes delicious, it cost 2 to 3 times what it would cost anywhere else. The same can be said for the games, we spend $20 to win a two dollar blowup toy. Or you try to impress somebody and spent $50 to win a five dollar stuffed toy. Everything is enticing, the lights, the music, the whistles, the bangles and the baubles.
The fair reminds me of the story of the prodigal son, who was tired of living on the farm and wanted to go have fun. So he asked his father for his inheritance, which he’s quickly lost to riotous living, (probably at a county fair) and ended up with no friends and broke. He was hired to be a farm hand again, but this time treated badly, so he decided to go home and be a servant to his father, where he would be treated well. You know the story, his father welcomed him with open arms. It’s a good thing the boy realized he had spent too long at the fair! Home never looked so good!
As parents we want our children to experience life, but we also want them to do it wisely and safely. Because the fair comes the same time every year, it would be wise to have your children start a jar labeled, fun at the fair. Only what they managed to save, should they be allowed to spend at the fair. We cannot protect our children from con artist, and shady games forever. But we can make them a little wiser, by teaching them to only spend what they can afford to lose. If they have to work for the money they spend, they will be more careful with their choices on how to spend it. What is the old idiom? A fool and his money are soon parted!
We as authors are noted for our books on good financial planning, and debt free-living. Not being familiar with each and every author, I can only assume that they practice what they preach. But there is no doubt that the content of the books are a good guide on how to manage your money, and live comfortably throughout your life, if you are successful in following their advice. Don’t be too long at the fair like Johnny!
Words & Music: Traditional
Arrangement: Ian J Watts/Mike Wilbury
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Dear, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
He promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons,
He promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons,
He promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons
To tie up my bonnie brown hair.
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Dear, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
He promised to bring me a basket of posies
A garland of lilies, a gift of red roses
A little straw hat to set off the blue ribbons
That tie up my bonnie brown hair.
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.
Proverbs 25:17
And he said, A certain man had two sons:
And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:11-20