He Got His Father's Genes

One day last week, I was talking with my 9-year-old. This enterprising young man wanted to find some jobs to do around the house to earn money. We don't give an allowance but we do occasionally pay our kids to do bigger jobs that go beyond their normal call of duty. When they've earned money, we require them to budget their income- they give ten percent of it as tithe and the remaining ninety percent gets split equally into envelopes for "Saving", "Spending", and "Giving". The "Saving" money gets deposited into the bank to someday buy something "big" with, the "Spending" money can be used on smaller, more frequent purchases, and the "Giving" money is to be given to someone in need, as God leads them. You get the idea.

So, let me mention that this child is a saver. When we were potty-training him, he would hold onto his m+m's for hours until his dimpled, little hand got sticky and colorful and I had to threaten to take them away if he didn't eat them. Let me also mention that not only is this particular child a saver, he has been saving for a certain item for a very long time. Like for a year. He desperately wants a pony. A "Pony of the Americas, also known as a Shetland pony", no less. So the likelihood is that he will be saving for a lot longer before we are forced to figure out how we're going to house a pony on our quarter acre lot in our quiet suburban neighborhood.

Anyway, back to our conversation. I gave my little guy a couple of suggestions for extra jobs he could do, but, to be frank, most of the jobs I give the kids fall under the "Helping Out Because You're Part of This Family" category, so he got fairly frustrated by the lack of income potential. Finally he burst out in tears and declared, "I need to get a job!" I don't think we need to worry that this child will be a slacker when the time comes for him to enter the workforce.

We finally determined that he could clean out the van to earn some money. Daddy also agreed that he could rake the lawn, as well- once all the leaves have fallen (hey, we're doing good to be able to afford to pay for them to be done once!). This lifted his spirits and he informed me that he was going to start saving his "Saving" money for a down payment on a house when he's a grown up. "But, honey," I asked, "I thought you were saving your saving money for a pony?" "No," he said, "I'm saving my spending money for a pony."

(I have a 9-year-old available to rent for the doing of odd jobs. E-mail me for rates.)