“So, we used our last three dollars of the grocery money I set aside for the month. We spent it on our pop yesterday afternoon.”
“Well, thank goodness for the treat jar.” Brennan, the oldest, says. “We probably have at least twenty bucks in there.”
“And, with the new system of putting money in the jar when we don’t do what you asked us to do, when you asked us to do it, is going to add A LOT.” This comes from Caleb the ten year old.
“I hope not. You guys are never just disobedient by telling us ‘No, I won’t do that,’ but I hope you can get better at not blowing us off so much when we have to ask you multiple times to do something.”
“I had to put a quarter in yesterday,” says Hannah, the youngest. “I waited until the second time you asked me to come to the table and I had to pay.”
“The thing is, guys, we’re almost always willing to negotiate, ‘just another minute while I finish what I’m doing,’ but you all have gotten to where we don’t even have that conversation, you just wait until you are ready, rather than coming when I ask you.”
“Yeah, I had to give $2 on Monday, $1.25 to the jar yesterday, and I haven't put any in today. I think Monday was an all time high.”
“Well, considering it’s costing you a quarter for each time you don’t respond when you’re asked to do something, it does seem pretty high, but you are getting better.”
“True, but that day you were standing over me, ‘KC, please do your chore. Oh, you didn’t get up, that’s 25 cents."
"Yeah and you just laid there on the couch."
" 'KC, you need to do your chore. Oh, you're still laying there. Okay, now it’s 50 cents.’ "
"And you were laughing like it was a funny joke, but you still didn't get up."
"You got all the way up to a dollar before I got to it.” She’s right, I stood there like a taxi ticker, hiking up the price every time I had to ask her. I don’t generally set my kids up to fail, but this has been an interesting new plan, and it has gotten quick results.
“Anyway, even today has been better than yesterday for all of you. Do you think it’s in keeping with the spirit of our experiment to use that money for whatever we need in order to get by until the end of the month? “ I ask.
Brennan gives an emphatic, “Yes! Don’t you always tell us about when you guys were broke and you’d go searching for change so you could buy a diet Coke?”
“True,” I said.
KC turns the conversation. “And, did you match what we gave, too?”
“No. But I think I might.”
“I think you should. It’s not a ton of money, but even ten or fifteen bucks will go a long way at this point, right. Especially if we mostly just need milk and stuff. Plus, did you take that food processor back?”
“Not yet, but what do you think?”
“What are you going to get for it?” Brennan asks.
“Something around fifty dollars.”
“Fifty dollars! Take it back. We’ll be fine. We can totally make it 10 days on fifty dollars.”
I love these kids. All the little gray areas I was grappling with separated quickly into black and white at their counsel. Good enough for me.
2 comments:
I need your kids to come in and sit on some of my clients' appointments. They could use the help with sorting the "gray" areas.
Seriously. They know so well because if something's not right, or I'm stretching for justification, they’ll be like, “Wait, isn’t that cheating.” Or, “Didn’t you say you were going to…”
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