My teenage child went trail riding yesterday. He is horse obsessed and this is a concession to the fact that I can't/won't entertain the idea of buying him a pony.
He has done this activity several times before and absolutely loves it. The horse coaches are very helpful, kind and accommodating. They're never too busy to take plenty of photos for Harry to remember the time he has spent on the rides. His horse is always the same one, a grey dotty creature by the name of Rave.
What was especially good about this ride, is that it actually cost me nothing. Last Christmas, Harry was gifted a card to the value of two trail rides. Harry has always been an accidental minimalist with no interest in gathering any sort of physical bits and pieces, so a present like this is awesome.
It reminded me of a basic minimalist tenet that I like to live by. In our house, experience over things is a big deal.
For example, had someone have bought him an object last Christmas, by October, ten months later, I can guarantee he would have probably forgotten about whatever the gift was. By the time he was twenty, I know he would definitely have forgotten the gift and by fifty, well…you get the idea.
But I am quite sure Harry will have neither forgotten his trail riding fun, nor wished he'd had some sort of toy/item of clothing/gee-gaw for his Christmas when he reflects back as an older person.
I know he doesn't know what he got for his fifth birthday - nor his eleventh, but I do know he remembers donuts with grandma and grandpa on his first day of kindergarten, he also remembers a trip to Melbourne to his first ever VidCon. He'll still remember these things when he is as old as me, significantly more than if he had received a video game or socks and jocks
Experience trumps things every time in our house - how about you?
