Money Talks

Not willing to let the I-wanna-quit-soccer thing end without some sort of consequence, I came up with a compromise. I'm a great one for compromises, I think. This can be a flaw, too, but we'll save that for another post someday.

Anyway, I'm comfortable with Boychild not playing soccer because, as Meno says, kids change their minds. I'm even happy that he's going to be taking swimming lessons. But I thought it might be an opportunity to teach him that breaking commitments can come with consequences.

I have calculated how much each night of soccer costs, subtracted the nights he already played and any nights that are rained out, and explained to Boychild he is going to help cover the difference.

Boychild has a small list of chores to do each day (make bed, feed fish, tidy up at the end of the day) and he gets an allowance each Saturday. I told him he will be expected to do one more chore each day and that he will not receive his allowance for a few weeks to make up the difference.

He was nonplussed. This is largely because
a) He usually does the chores but forgets to ask for the money and I forget to give it to him anyway. I had to calculate the amount I owe to him before I could establish the actual difference.
b) He still doesn't entirely grasp the value of money.

No problem. I am going to explain it to him in Bionicles. He lurves the Bionicles. If I explain that the amount he owes would be the same as buying three Bionicles, it will probably resonate a bit more.

It's kind of like how I used to explain the concept of time to him:
"We'll be leaving in one hour, Boychild."
"How long is one hour?"
"It's two TV shows."
"Oh, okay."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how my television and I became Mother of the Year.