too bad Christmas just passed…
Archive for January, 2008
…not quite as big as starting all-day Kindergarten and Pre-K, but Elias & Jackson were excited to finally get some new sheets the other day. Elias has wanted Diego sheets for over a year I think, so when Jackson’s flannel star & moon sheets finally wore thin enough to create a hole it seemed like a good time to get some new ones. Unfortunately, Ethan’s queen sized bed doubles as our guest bed and character sheets are hard to come by in that size. I guess that’s the price you pay for getting the bigger bed. ~Jen
as most are aware, little boys have quite a range of interests. this evening, we may have spanned the entire spectrum in the 15 minutes before dinner. we went from learning & playing the intellectual strategy game of checkers to marveling in the wonderous sounds that the human body can make when a little boy places a hand in his sweaty arm pit and pumps his arm up and down. these are the things that boys do i guess when it rains too much to play outside.
~ryan
Jen & I have been talking for a while about how to teach the kids about money. OK, really Jen has been talking, I have been listening and pondering (she is the smarter, more motivated one in the arena). So, she found these cool banks for the kids and together we came up with a 2-fold strategy on how to teach them the basics.
First, we want them to learn about tithing, savings and spending. Or, as we explained to them: 1st we give to God – 2nd we set aside for the future – 3rd we put money into the “spend it!” area (they added the exclamation point).
The harder part of the training is ALLOWANCE vs. WORK (giving them money vs. having them earn money). What’s tricky is, when it comes down to it, are you really willing to pay a 4 year-old to do much of anything? We decided we didn’t want to just GIVE money away since that isn’t how the real world works, however, we are ALL recipients of gifts at one time or another. So we landed on a system where every payday they get a small amount of money to learn how to manage. Then, each week they will also have WORK OPPORTUNITIES (aside from regular chores) where they can earn additional money. ALL money gets managed by the 1st 10% to God, the 2nd 10% to Savings, and the balance to SPEND!
We will let you know how our complex training system goes… we are trying to teach them scripture too, but right now they know 2 things: 1. it all comes from God 2. they have money of their own to spend now! They are happy boys.
~ryan
PS ~ if you’re interested in the banks, don’t buy them from the moonjar site (linked above) or from the pictured link - I did a lot of research and found them for $7 under retail price here. ~Jen