I had to pilfer a buck from my son’s chore jar to purchase a cup of coffee today.
Wednesday is my “writing day”, and I don’t dare attempt to prepare my Pittsburgh Mom post from my house – for whenever I try to work from my actual office I inevitably get roped into folding a basket of laundry or wandering into the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. Then there are the bookshelves lined with a film of dust. Distractions plague my work from home environment, so I vacate, opting for a window seat at a local coffee shop where I plant myself for a few hours.
Today, I had no mula for my java. Pitiful.
Zane, however, did. So I helped myself.
I consider it payment for services rendered. The job?
SENIOR EXECUTIVE CHILD-REARING TECHNICIAN.
Perhaps I’m making excuses. In my defense, I don’t get a paycheck for my daily mothering duties, even though the job description and hours are pretty extensive.
So, yeah, I took that $1.00. And some coins.
Wanna make something of it?
I didn’t think so.
My kids understand, as much as they can at ages 9 and 5, the value and importance of money. They know that we have more of it than many, and quite a bit less than others. I am quite honest with them about not being able to afford certain items that they “neeeeed”. They hear me talking about paying down debt, and giving generously. We began teaching the concepts of giving, saving, and spending pretty early. Both sets of grandparents are very generous with my children, and thus, they’ve always had “piggy” banks filled with cash and coins. Upon receiving a cash gift or payment for chores, we first have them set aside 10% for giving, followed by 40% for saving, which is deposited into their respective accounts at the local bank. The remainder can be spent any way they desire. Both kids are working towards reaching a balance of $50 in their savings accounts, at which point our bank will kick in another $10. It’s a good incentive to save.
Harper is $2.75 away from this goal.
Zane is $3.25 away from this goal.
Only, both of them would have reached that initial $50 THIS WEEK had they not been so careless with their money.
There was Zane’s rage-filled Wii moment a few weeks ago, when in a fit of intense frustration, he threw a numchuck against the wall. It broke. Reluctantly, he took $20 from his bank to cover the purchase of a replacement.
For Halloween, their grandparents who are completely lovely and can’t control their urges to spoil my children (and really, what grandparent can) sent them each $10. They know and respect me enough to send cash rather than more sugar-infested crack this time of year, for we have quite the bounty once the week long Halloween celebration is over. My town does Halloween for days. However, it sure was odd to march down the main drag during the costume parade only to glance up and find Christmas wreaths secured to the light poles. Who made that decision? Loonies.
Zane promptly put the $10 in the bank in his room.
Harper did not. It is now in a dumpster somewhere, for it got swept up with the trash and hauled away. One should only have to suggest, “Hey, you should probably bring that money up to your room,” once. OK, twice.
No, Grams and Gramps, do NOT send her another $10. I know you are itching to do so. Put some cream on that itch and step away from the checkbook.
Zane is saving up for a Playmobile Dragon Castle (the exact same one already hiding in the attic for Christmas) and decided it was time to take that $10, combine it with all the other money in his bank, and deposit the entire amount into his savings account. So we added it up, set aside the tithe, and went ahead and did just that.
And then, that evening, he disobeyed a rule in our home about what items can be placed in our $20 electric pencil sharpener. We’ve been through this before. He knows that crayons should not be placed in the shaft. This was not a first-time offense. As Harper went to sharpen a pencil we discovered a red crayon, stuck – with no hope of being rescued. We go through a TON of pencils in this house. I invested in a good sharpener to alleviate the constant scamble to find the small manual one that kept going missing last year (no doubt hidden, and full of crayons).
“Zane. Come here. Did you put anything other than a pencil in the sharpener?”
Hesitation. Eyes beginning to well up.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
There was no question in mind as to how this would play out.
“You are forgiven. Thank you for telling the truth. So, that money you just deposited? You will need to withdraw $20 from your bank account to pay for a new pencil sharpener.”
“Ok, Mommy.”
My son has now paid out $40 for items he has broken in our home. Let’s be clear: throwing the Wii controller and stuffing red wax in the sharpener WERE NOT ACCIDENTS. They were choices he made. So I have no problem demanding that he fork over the cash.
And what of Harper?
Well, after giving her $10 for the school book fair, she asked for a bit more, having found a second book she wanted.
“Mom, I don’t have any money in my spending jar.”
Resist the urge. Resist the urge: You should have thought of that BEFORE you left the money on the table with the newspapers! What? You think money grows on trees? I guess you learned your lesson!
Instead, “Sorry, I’m out.”
I can’t even buy my own cup of coffee.
