K learned this lesson a while back, but the girls are learning it in a different way now and it's been interesting. K was almost 2 years old before he knew that the riding vehicles in stores actually move. The only reason he found out was because his Nana put money in one once. I can only recall one time that I have put a quarter in a gumball machine for him. The only reason I did it then is because earlier that day I told him I would give him a quarter for doing something for me. I know, what kind of mom am I to not buy my son something every time he asks?
Now, every time we go somewhere, he either has some of his money that he has earned with him or he says, "Aww man, I forgot my money... again" all too cutely. He even knows not to ask to borrow money because the answer is always no. It only takes one time for me to say yes for him to forget his money "every time" and to always want to borrow money from someone. M and I feel that teaching a child to be responsible with money can start as soon as they ask or say, "I want that!" That's exactly when we started.
Now that the girls are staying with us, there have been a few requests for different things. Since I don't buy K everything he wants, I don't think it's right that I buy them everything they want. Like K, they have been given ways to earn money. One of the opportunities was by raking the yard. Of course, they had to rake the entire yard to get paid. Needless to say, although they did get a good size pile of leaves, the job was still unfinished two days later when I finally returned the borrowed rakes back to the neighbor. I guess playing on the computer and the PlayStation was more important than the money they could have received to buy the things they want.
Although they didn't earn any money for the unfinished job, M gave them another chance to earn money; this time they completed the job. M told them if they crushed a tub and a trash can full of cans and bagged them, we would take them to the recycling center and they could have the money made from the cans. I guess we are taking a trip to the recycling center on Monday.
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