The $50 Wallet

So, we are having the allowance discussion at our house again.

We had discontinued the allowance for awhile and now are considering going back to it.

My thought was that N would earn $3/week since he will be in third grade this year and that L would earn $.75/week since she'll be in kinder.

Turns out both of the kids disagree with that amount. L of course thinks she should get the same as N (oh, the drama of being the youngest!) And surprisingly, N also thinks she should get the same. Hmmmm. That really surprised me, but I must say it also delighted me.

Lance and I are going to have to take it under advisement. I still think he should get more since he is older and has more responsibilites than her. If you can count clearing his dishes, taking out the trash, and keeping his room a step away from the trash dump as huge responsibilites. She has the same responsibilites as he, but still requires a bit of parental help to actually accomplish her chores.

So, the wallet.....

N is participating in a 2 week acting camp right now --- he is playing The Wizard in a production of The Wizard of Mars --- it's sort of a mash-up of Life on Mars and The Wizard of Oz. I can't wait to see the performance and he's learned alot about memorizing lines, blocking, set design, and more! All in all a great experience.

But, there is another boy in his group, Stuart. And Stuart seems a wee bit more wordly wise than my boy. Stuart claims he owns some special quarter that there are only 20 of the in the U.S. and he owns all of them.....he's offered to sell one to N for only $5. I told N that I thought it was a trick. Then yesterday, N comes home with a wallet. Up until this point, all his money has stayed in his banks, only to come out when going to buy a specific item. But, Stuart evidently needed money to buy a snowcone yesterday and so he convinced N to buy his wallet (an Incredible Hulk one at that). He told N that the wallet cost $50. Of course, N didn't have $50 and coincidently the small snowcone cost $.75 and so N bought the wallet for that amount. Stuart got his snowcone and N got a used Incredible Hulk wallet. Not sure who got the better deal there!

I want both kids to learn about saving, spending, giving early in life so that any mistakes they make are on a small scale and not financially devastating. And so, I observe and offer my opinion when asked. And act really surprised and excited when a little boy shows me his first wallet. Wow, he's growing up!