The law of diminishing returns

I am not  an statistician.  Nor am I an accountant or an economist or whoever it is that uses this concept.  When I was in college, I bought a carton of raspberry sherbet, pulled out 3 spoons, and shared it right out of the package with my roommates.  It just seemed tastier that way.  In fact, when the sherbet was about halfway gone, I said with an ooey-gooey dreamy voice, "This just keeps getting better and better with every bite."  My roommate, who was a math major, quickly informed me that what I had just said was against the law of diminishing returns.  She then proceeded to explain to me that the first time you do something or try something, it is amazing!  But each time you do it, it looses some of that first time thrill.  So the 20th spoonful of sherbet should not taste as good as the first.  Makes sense, right?

I use this concept all the time now in my parenting, especially when it comes to fast food.  There was a time when we were both working, that we would go out to eat about once a week.  After a while, we got sick of fast food and then proceeded to "fancy" restaurants.  And then we got sick of the cheap stuff and would order the more expensive stuff and before we knew it, we were spending about $30 a meal (which is now my weekly grocery budget).  You know what the problem was?  We were doing it so frequently that it wasn't nearly as satisfying as it used to be.  We ended up digging deep into our pockets to try something new because the enjoyment of eating out was gone.  When I stopped working, we stopped going out to eat.  That was an adjustment for all of us.  But you know what?  By reducing the frequency of going out to eat, we've actually increased the enjoyment of going out!  And we spend less money.  It's now a treat and much more special.  For example, my sweet seven year old had the lead in the first grade play.  He worked SOOO hard at memorizing his lines and even had a solo in one song.  It was so stinking cute.  We decided to reward him by letting him choose a restaurant to eat at before the play in recognition of his hard work.  He picked McDonalds.  The kids shared a 20 piece chicken McNugget for $5 and two small fries.  He felt special and knew that we were proud of him.  If this was something that we did every week, it wouldn't have held that same special place in his heart.  So remember that next time you're tempted to go out to eat or start feeling bad because you don't have enough money to go out to eat as often as your kids would like.  STOP IT!  There's no reason to feel bad.  It's usually not good for you anyway, and when you actually do get to go out, it's more fun and more special, and your children will have fond memories of the occasions when you do go out.