Family Life

Debbie has been giving Daniel some coins for every day that he’s kept his pull-ups dry. It’s part of potty training. He keeps the coins in a jar in the bathroom.

He’s been dry for an unbroken month. This is a big achievement, and definitely cause for celebration. Seeing as Toys-R-Us had a sale today, we went so Daniel could spend some of his hard-earned cash. With his $20 he bought a small Transformer robot, a toolbox with plastic tools and a (working) electric drill, and a Mighty Machines DVD. That cleaned out his jar.

The visit to the toy store was a big success. The new toys are very popular right now. Daniel and Joel fight over them all the time. Tonight as he was going to bed Daniel was making plans out loud as to how he was going to spend his $20 next weekend. I gently explained to him that he’d spent all his money today. That there was no more. How could that be possible? There were a lot of coins in that jar! It took some repetition for it to sink in. Eventually he grasped the concept, and immediately began planning to save up more money, start a fresh stash. I sighed when I realized the flaw in his plan. Debbie had told me she’d probably stop giving him money every day. He’s fully potty trained and doesn’t need the incentive. She’s thinking about instituting a similar plan for Joel instead.

That’s going to be a problem.

Daniel will see his earning capacity drop to zero, while his younger brother happily accumulates wealth. I’m sure it’ll be a powerful incentive for Joel, especially since he’s getting coins while Daniel isn’t, but it’s going to be a cruel blow to eldest son. Laid off at such an early age. Unemployed. I didn’t have the heart to break it to him right then. We’ll have to put some careful thought into how we manage this one.

The philosophical problem I have is that the boys don’t need more stuff, more toys. They have way more than they need. In fact, we’ve put away a whole pile, to be restored when Micah is older. So I suddenly have misgivings about this form of motivation. On the other hand there’s value in teaching about savings, about working towards financial goals. I’m not sure how this parenting topic will develop, but it proves yet again that children are intelligent, innovative, entertaining, and a challenge to their parents’ mental abilities.

UPDATE: Debbie wanted me to emphasize that Daniel is completely night-dry. She felt that I hadn’t made it clear enough.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 at 11:33 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.