Tonight was a grab hamburgers at Arctic Circle because it is 8:30 pm and we're still out running errands and there isn't a clean dish in the house kind of night. I also thought the indoor play ground would let the older two run off some steam and get rid of the fidgets from being snowed in for the last two days. Jake has unfortunately reached the stage where an indoor play ground just isn't big enough to work off the excess energy. It was while my instructions to stop trying to kill himself were being ignored as he repeatedly jumped off the top of the four steps up to the slide, and trying what I can only assume was his version of parkour, that I had a stroke of genius. 
I want to make a bank like this for Jacob, with a fourth slot called "Not-Such-A-Good-Idea Fund". The money that will be saved in that section will be used to pay for damages when he does something like throw a ball through a neighbor's window. It will also be used to pay medical co-pays when he hurts himself from jumping off a roof or trying to build his own zip-line in the back yard. The hope being that if he has to pay for the stupid stuff he does, he will think twice before doing something stupid. When I told Brian about my great idea he disagreed with me and actually said, "I don't want to take that experience away from him, jumping off a roof is a right of passage and he is going to do it at some point in his life no matter what you do."
Fine, but when he jumps off of a roof, I am not paying for it...
Christmas Boot Camp 2012
12 years ago
7 comments:
I want to make a bank like that with you. We need some distinction between spending, tithing, and savings and I am just not a fan of the banks I've seen so far.
Now I only say this next part because that's what MY kids would think, but do you think him knowing he has money to repair the not so good things he does will make him do them more? Kind of like, "Hmmm, I've got X amount of money in my not smart account....this is TOTALLY worth spending it!" ?
Actually I don't think it would. Jake has a very a hard time spending money. Well, I should say he has a very hard time spending "his" money. He stresses over ever decision if it is something he really wants or if he'll find something better later on and wish he still had the money. But you raise a good point, and one I hadn't thought about. :) I guess it depends on the personality of the child...
Darrel and I had a good chuckle over this one. I think you're on to something! I should probably start one for myself, too. Not so much for jumping off of roofs, though. I've learned that lesson.
I'm going to agree with Brian on this one. Jake's just being a kid and you've got to let him do it. I remember jumping off of lots of things as a kid and I'm sure you were right there with me. :)
I am almost positive we never jumped off of any roofs though... I don't remember jumping off things as a kid. I remember trying death defying stunts on jungle gyms and bicycles. Actually, I think I was pretty tame, I remember long summer afternoons spent "scrubbing" the driveway with water where the worst injury we were courting was a sunburn.... :)
My children...especially my boys were always shocking me with one of their antics. One time, I arrived home earlier than they anticipated from a trip to the grocery store to find Adam snowboarding off the roof of the garage. I pretty sure that Sandra has some tales to tell, too! It's that frontal lobe thing! :)
Sandra, indeed has many tales to tell . . . too numerous to mention here! I had Brent come in and read this particular blog post and the two of us just hee-hawed. Talk about memories just FLOODING back! The bank has possibilities, however, my kids (girls included) would have been constantly in debt to the bank so I'm not sure it would have worked. When Scott (in particular) would hurt himself doing some intelligent thing, he didn't say to himself "oh, that hurt . . . I guess I shouldn't do that thing" rather, he said something like "oh, that hurt . . . I need to modify my approach next time". That is the essential difference between Scott and I and actually between Brent and I! Keep writing Chrissy. It's some of my best entertainment!
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