Earning his keep.

This week marked a first for our little man. He learned a new word. (Thankfully one that he can use in public...) Chores. Yes, he's only 3 and 1/2 but that means he's practically 4 and that makes him not that far away from 12, really, and then it's almost time to decide what to get him for graduation. Sweet mercy, where did the time go?

So, yes, chores. Or chore, as the case may be. His job?


Canine food management (i.e. filling Daisy's food bowl).

With each full bowl, he claims (and shakes) his booty. He gets a coin to put in his piggy bank. And because this teacher can't let go of teachable moments, we talk about what the coin is and how much it's worth, etc.

(excuse the unexcusebly bad picture. yikes)

Eventually we'll start separating into save, give, spend but for now it's all in one bank while he learns a little responsibility. Also, for now, his "allowance", if that's what you want to call it, is earned by chores. In a few years, it may move to books. We're definitely throwing around the idea.

I once heard John Maxwell speaking at an Arbonne conference and he shared how his kids earned their allowance by reading. When his kids found out that their friends earned theirs simply by taking out the trash, etc, stuff they were already expected to be doing, they got mad and asked why they had it differently. Dr. Maxwell explained that on one hand, they didn't need to get paid to be an active and responsible part of the family, on the other hand, he said, "If I wanted you to become garbage-men, I'd pay you to take out the garbage." Hence, paying them to read.

However, if we paid Eliot for reading books at this stage, we'd have to take out a sizable loan. So, perhaps once he's older and into actual reading, specifically books that take more than 2 minutes to finish and don't include Lightening McQueen as the main character. Kaaaaa-chow.