To Blog or not to blog. . .

That is the question.

I started this blog with the hope of reaching out to other parents, who, like me, struggle to raise their special needs children. I tend to blog only when inspired, which usually means that someone or some corporation has ticked me off.

I have noticed that I get about 100 page hits every time I write a new blog entry. Discounting my 10 or so faithful friends and maybe 5 relatives, that means I have about 85 avid readers. I need more.

At this rate, to reach my goal of 1 million hits, I'm going to have to write nearly 1,000 more entries. So I had better get cracking.

Today's topic: $10,000 birthday parties, $25,000 bat mitzvahs and hedge fund managers, who make $1.4 million per hour spending other people's money. I must be in the wrong profession.

My son wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. I wanted to arrange a zoo party where his friends and classmates could get an educational experience, while having fun at the party. I considered the following options:

• $350 and up for a Chuck E. Cheese party for 20-30 kids - where consequently my food-allergic son would have to eat his dinner in the car.
• $400 - $600 for a party at the zoo, depending on whether I ponied up for the other kids' parents to enter the zoo as well.
• $325 tax deductible donation for the Zoo Mobile to come to our son's school and give a fun and educational demonstration complete with live animals.

Guess which option I chose. The in-school party required no invitations, I did not have to worry about RSVPs, I spent less than $100 more for zoo-related crafts and goodie bags, pizza delivery and Sam's club cupcakes, and my son, who ran and hid when they brought out the corn snake, happily ate his GFCF lunch with his friends.

So what about these $10,000 birthday parties? I doubt the party pictures were any cuter than my son on video running from the snake and I could help dozens of special needs children through my ministries with that kind of money.

Most special needs parents learn very quickly to choose the least stressful and in many cases the least expensive option. I do worry about money, but I will always choose the tax deductible option, even if it means more money. The kids have fun no matter what.

Why don't these parents rent out their zoo or local aquarium and invite underprivileged or special needs children to the party. The parents get a big fat tax write-off and their children get a wonderful lesson in learning about others, while having a great time. It's no different than spending Thanksgiving at a soup kitchen, instead of sitting down to a 10-course meal at a 5-star hotel.

I'm preaching to the choir. The $10,000-party parents aren't the ones reading my blog and neither is the $3 billion per year hedge fund manager. If you are reading, please make a sizable donation to Lifeover Ministries.

As for my faithful followers, send me some inspiration. I still have 999 more blogs to write before I reach my 1 million-hit goal.

Nianya