The Animal Cracker Dilemma

When you go to the store, there are two (or more) brands of animal crackers. One brand is Barnum's. They are the classic ones that come in the little circus train car. The 2 oz. package costs about $1. Then there are Stouffers. Stouffers come in a 32 oz. bag, and cost about $1.50. Now, when faced with a purchasing decision, anyone who knows me can guess the choice I made. Quite obviously, we can reconfigure crackers into cute containers if desired. Paying 10x the cost isn't necessary. So of course we got the Stouffer's, and we've been eating them. A side benefit to me is that they aren't really all that good. This means I am not very tempted to consume mass quantities, as I tend to with some of the kids' other snacks.

The other day, I was with someone who had Barnum's. I tried one. A new world of animal cracker enjoyment was opened up to me. Holy cow, are they good! Like a few of life's other little luxuries, they are worth it whatever the cost. But now the dilemma: Do I let my kids try them, and ruin their little appetites for Stouffers forever? Or do I keep this knowledge confidential, and let them happily ingest a substandard snack?

Is this a metaphor for decisions to come? Should we send them to private Christian school, have them tough it out in a subpar district, or something inbetween? And if there's an inbetween, what's the animal cracker equivalent?

Thank goodness we have a few years to figure all this out.