It’s really well written. The tone is pitch-perfect for what he’s writing about. There are no garbled sentences or references to “highly cost-effective solutions” or anything like that. Just straight talk from the heart. (It’s not grammatically perfect, but casual writing rarely is, so I’ll let that slide.)

It’s a genuinely fresh idea, not a rehashing of something he’s already written about a hundred times before. Nor is it one of the many posts that starts out in an interesting place but ends up in one of about four conclusions that keep showing up over and over.

It’s an example of something he’s learned about himself recently. Usually, whenever Trent talks about his own faults or mistakes, it’s in reference to the bizarre (and fairly unbelievable) world he lived in before his financial turnaround, with the implication that ever since then he’s been perfect. Here, he talks about how he’s still growing.

I don’t mind that it’s only slightly related to personal finance. As I’ve said before, if Trent has to expand the scope of the blog to come up with fresh ideas, I’m in favor of that.

Like some others on the thread, I think the personal benefits of his realization outweighs the financial – he obviously has a stronger relationship with his son because he’s basing it on his son’s personality, not his imaginary construct of what a father/son is. Although the realization of “Buying that item wouldn’t have been for him, though.” is a great one.

But that’s also the reason I think this makes such a great post. The fact that it’s very personal. Trent made it clear that he worked through different things and *grew* from the knowledge. It doesn’t come-off as trite or dashed-off, but thoughtful.

It’s a post that’s real, relevant, and sincere – based on actual experiences, not … misconceptions and projections, or having to twist the examples so far to make them work that they don’t feel real. I really, really liked it.

(Steve above mentions Trent and personal growth and to me – this post is *all* about personal growth)

Good post, though.

I have found myself with little time or motivation to build them over the last year. Life sort of gets in your way sometimes or maybe I am growing up again. I have began donating a lot of the kits to the Wounded Warriors program to help our wounded troups in recovery. Sometimes it is good to let go of the past, life is much too short and there are no do-overs.

Thanks for this post, it really started me thinking again.

Should Trent sign up the whole family for CrossFit? No. Should Trent sign up for CrossFit himself? Absolutely! I’d LOVE to read those articles about Trent pushing himself outside of his comfort zone to experience and do things he never thought possible. As it is now, Trent comes off to me as self-defeated and unwilling to challenge himself. I think he’s firmly stuck in a comfort zone that he (maybe doesn’t want to) can’t get himself out of.

Trent is always alway always talking about personal growth, but I have yet to really see how Trent heeds his own advice. I don’t see any posts about how he is pushing himself into areas of unknown and unfamiliar, or into situations where he is unassured and insecure. THOSE are the moments when people really grow as individuals, and THOSE are the moments Trent seems to be lacking.

So, yes, I may sound judgemental and a one note bloke, but only because I want to see Trent grow and expand his horizons. In truth, I see him as someone who is afraid of life. I also see someone who is incredibly intelligent who has a capacity to accomplish a lot. I’d love to see him succeed in anything he attempted. The problem, as I see it through this blog, is that he doesn’t attempt much. Just talks about all the things he’d like to do. (And that could be that he doesn’t share every detail of his life and half the story is missing. I don’t know.)

You can guide your children to certain experiences you have found valuable or meaningful, but it doesn’t mean they’ll share your interest. It’s been an fascinating development for me – I love to read, cook and sew – and was one of five daughters who also shared those interests, largely instilled by a father who loved to read and cook. But I married a man who loves sports as well, and had four boys, whose interests are much more physical than mine – football in particular. So my experience has broadened to include that, which adds something to all our lives, and they read and cook as well.

@Steven – Trent writes a lot about getting out to parks with his family and running around in the yard with them. He even mentions playing soccer with his son in this post. It sounds to me like they are pretty active. What do you want him to do? Sign the whole family up for CrossFit? Geez, give the man a break.

Also, what Tracy said.

I’m a little hesitant to address this, because I think it plays a bit into what’s a right/wrong activity for a child – and I think that’s individualistic and honestly none of our business, BUT:

Trent’s actually listed a lot of activities his kids play – just a week or so ago, people were worried that all their extracurriculars *were* physical. Plus, most of Trent’s love of baseball was watching/listening … most of his son’s love of soccer is playing.

While your son may not be sitting in front of them now, I foresee a life not much different than the rest of Americans for your son. That makes me sad.

The present is not the past, but even more importantly, your son is not you. We have to relate to people based on the people they really are, not the people we wish they were.