Deep thinking with Andrew

Andrew has always been a deep thinker.  He has always asked good, thoughtful questions.  Some that keep me on my toes and some that make me realize how little I know about something.

Lately, taking him to practices and games has been a time ripe for questions and deep conversations.  No littles around.  Lately, I think he's been really noticing and internalizing the financial differences between families.  Here are some examples of our most recent (in the last week) conversations:

A- Mom, why do some people have iPhones?
G- Because they are really fun and useful and a new kind of technology that can do a lot of cool stuff.
A-Then why don't we have one?
G- You dad and I don't think we need one.
A- Do other people need them?
G- No. Not really. 
A- Then why do they have them and we don't?
G- Because they want them.  Sometimes you buy things because you want them, not because you need them.
A- Don't you want one?
G- Yes.  They look really cool and I think I'd have fun with it.
A- Then why don't you get one?
G- Well, everyone has to make decisions about how to spend their money.  And Dad and I have decided to spend our money on other things besides an expensive phone and high monthly fees.
A- Like what.
G- ...... (is this where we begin explaining retirement planning?)

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A- Mom?  Are we millionaires?
G- Heavens, no. 
A- Mom?  How do we get money?
G- Your dad works hard doing a job for his company, and they pay him money each month to do that job.
A- How much does he make?
G- That's private.  You don't need to know how much he makes.  He makes enough for us to have a wonderful life...a nice house, fun things to do, food to eat, etc.
A- But we can't get the mansions across the street.  What job do those people do?
G- I don't know.  But maybe more than one person works.  If mommy got a job, maybe we could live there (also: pigs may fly).
A- But how does he GET the money?
G- babbles on about direct deposit and banks...
A- How does a credit card work?  It's not money, right?
G- babbles on about credit and interest...
A- What about tax?  How come when you buy something they always add a little more on at the end?
G- babbles on about the government needing money and taxes and God knows what else.
A- Who decides how much money each person gets?  And how much things cost?
G- Maybe we should talk about something else for a little while.  This gets pretty complicated.

He's also recently asked me for details about graveyards...that one ended in tears when he worried that he might not have grandchildren to make sure his death wishes are carried out.  Lordy.

What else?  Just generally lots of questions about the material stuff in our lives.  Why haven't we been to Disney?  Why is our house smaller than some of his friends?  Why don't we have more than 1 tv?  Why doesn't he have a tv in his room? Etc etc.  The cool thing is?  So far it isn't asked in a whiny, disgruntled tone.  He is merely curious...really trying to figure it all out.  He seems contented with what we have...perhaps he picks that up from us?  Because I have lots of friends whose kids are constantly bickering with them to get the latest gadget.  Of course, many of those kids are older than Andrew.  So either he's picked up his parent's relative lack of materialism...or he's just too young yet.  We'll see...