Success in Aisle Nine

Because we're trying to raise kids who know the value of money, my husband and I pay our children “commission” to make their beds, wash their plates, and sort the spoons from the forks. Every Saturday night, we gather at the kitchen table for "payday" and drop coins earned from daily chores into different jars labeled "Give," "Save," and "Spend." The first ten percent goes into the Give jar, which is emptied onto the collection plate at church on Sunday mornings. The Save jar is placed back on the windowsill for the day they can afford the items they’ve picked out to buy.  (My daughter wants a friend for her American Girl doll, and my son wants to buy a $75 ride in a NASCAR on the Nashville Motor Speedway.)  But the glorious Spend jar is filled with most of what they’ve earned over the past several weeks as they try to figure out how to spend money wisely.

It’s not easy.

All of their little lives, I’ve bought them things they didn’t need spontaneously at the store.  When their birthdays arrive, I always have to think hard to figure out something they actually want or need.

Well, the times, they are a’changing.  Now that they have their own money, they must buy their own items.  (Other than the necessities.)  On the airplane the other day, the Delta stewardess had free snacks and snacks you could buy.  I wasn’t sitting with my daughter, but I heard her ask the stewardess the price of the M&Ms.

“$3?” she asked.  I could tell she was shocked.  It takes a lot of sock sorting to get that kind of cash.  She settled for the free snack, and never mentioned it to me.

Tonight at the store, I saw the cool Magnetix building blocks, and did something I never do anymore.  I offered to buy my son a box of them since his sister was at a birthday party.  

“Mom, Christmas is just around the corner,” he said.  “Why don’t we just ask for them then?”

I was so proud of him, I wanted to buy him ten boxes.  

But I didn’t.

Maybe we’re all learning something.