Money Talk

Elizabeth had been wanting a hamster for quite some time.  Finally, at some point over the summer, we decided to let her have not a hamster, but a guinea pig, since they do better with small kids than hamsters do.

But the stipulation was that if Elizabeth was going to get an animal, she would be totally responsible for its upkeep and care.  Meaning, that she would buy all of its food and supplies.

Elizabeth has been doing a good job of making some money.  She has a pretty regular cleaning job and she does some babysitting for some of the church families, and she sometimes does babysitting or odd jobs around the house that earn her a little extra cash.

Which means that since she has an income, she is responsible for paying for almost all of her extra activities..youth trips, concerts, extra school stuff, going out to lunch after church and before band practice instead of taking her own food...if it's something extra that she wants to do, she needs to save up her money and decide how much she REALLY wants to do it and now much it is really worth to her.  A lot of her friends (and their parents) think that this is unfair.  They think that she is a child and so it is our responsibility as parents to 'provide' for her. 

Well, we do.  She has food, clothing, shelter...and what WE think are good life lessons.

Anyway...

An interesting thing happened the other day. 

The youth leader passed out a flier for a great program in the area that will cost $20 plus food.  Of course, Elizabeth wants to go.  But also, she mentioned a concert that is coming up that she would like to go to, too. 

So, Elizabeth, how much money do you have?  


About $50.  


And what about your pig?  Remember, if you run out of money and can't buy the pig food or hay, then you loose him.  


I know!  I need to make more money and decide what I want to do!

Hmmm...

Well, we'll see what she will decide to do, but it seems like a good lesson in the making! 

Home school, anyone?