Xander wants to buy a certain toy. We looked it up online. It's $25.
He counted his money in his "spend" jar. He has $18 and change.
He and Jonathan then did math. If he gets 50 cents every week to spend for allowance, how many weeks will it take him to save up for the purchase?
14 weeks.
How many months is that?
3 and a half months.
His face fell. He was crushed.
Then in one of those typical married moments, Jonathan and I looked at each other, had a wordless conversation, and said to him at the exact same time, "But you can work for it."
This weekend, he earned $2 by spending two hours with Jonathan cleaning the car, vacuuming the inside all by himself.
Yesterday he earned a quarter for taking out the trash cans.
It's this strange little balance act we're doing... we want to find jobs for him that we can pay him for, but we also want to make it clear that having household chores, like doing his laundry, are an expected way of his contributing to the family.
Anyone have any suggestions for jobs we can give him to earn money?
First of all, please correct your post: "...married moment, Jonathan AND I looked at....."
ReplyDeletehmmm....jobs that deserve remuneration.....
ReplyDeleteDoes the Sandbox need sifting?
Is there a garden task, like sweeping up fallen leaves?
How about polishing those snazzy black shoes for the menfolk?
How about a garage sale for outgrown toys and books?
Ooh, I love that last one especially! He could sift through the toybox with me and help me organize it. It's a necessary task, and also teaches the tzedekah, we'll give away the old ones to Goodwill. Thanks!
Deletewhere is my comment? I had a whole list. sheeeeesh
ReplyDeleteHey there, Janet!
Delete.........So resend that whole list....!!!!!!! I wanna see it!
Me too!
Delete