the adventures of babysitting…

exasperate (v) – to irritate or provoke to a high degree; annoy extremely

value (n) - relative worth, merit, or importance

atari - A maker of arcade games, home video game systems, and home computers, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. Atari are best known for their range of 16- and 32-bit microcomputers

…so I was babysitting this weekend. Okay I can’t quite call it babysitting, since she is 13 years old. Anyways, I had to go to Wal-Mart because I decided I needed a toothbrush holder – fine, I didn’t really NEED a toothbrush holder but I wanted one but I couldn’t find anything less then $7.99+tax and I just didn’t want to spend that much because:

- it wasn’t really necessary for me to have it (I have gone without it for over a year or two), and
- the piece of plastic I was looking at didn’t really equate to $7.99+tax in my mind

Apparently, all of my neigh saying over the cost of the toothbrush holder, really exasperated the 13 year old, who said that since I work, I have money and therefore I should just get it.

How do I explain to a 13 year old that working doesn’t necessarily equate to having money. More importantly how do I explain to her that I work hard to earn my money by being painfully bored at work and I cherish my paycheck (since I really don’t feel I get paid enough for the boredom that I have to endure day after day) and I’m just not going to spend it willy nilly. However this is the girl that figures she’ll have a car when she is 16, she should have a laptop now b/c her desktop is too slow and brand names are the rage.

I by no means can be considered cheap, and have been known to be frivolous to some degree but the question still remains – but how do you teach the value of money?

Anyways, I was talking to, Jasmine, who’s an old friend of mine – we both of us grew up in a single parent household where money was always scarce. We knew that and it wasn’t a painful existence – it honestly wasn’t – but I know that I can thank my mother for that.

We managed but we also knew that if we wanted something, our mothers would get it for us - but we also knew not to ask. We knew and it was that simple. Also, I suppose growing up in the 80’s is a lot different then growing up in today’s society. I don’t think there was that pressures of do I have the “right clothes” or do I have the “right accessories.” There wasn’t the pressure to have a cell phone, PS1, PS2 AND PS3, Wii or any other gadget, mind you – I think all we had back then was Atari – and phones at that time were still rotary dial - so the choices were quite limited.

Coupled with this conundrum is, how long should parents pay for their children’s way? Even if they can pay for it, should they? I don’t think so. Maybe I’m just jaded b/c I can’t go crying to daddy every time I need a new outfit, because the twit who sits next to me at my boring job wore the same thing as me.

So I’ll share a story that Jasmine told me,

- Jasmine daughter, Maya, is three years old and wanted a train set for Christmas,
- So Jasmine bought a train set for Maya and had it wrapped up for Christmas
- Maya was excited about her present and played with it for two whole days before tossing it aside
- So Jasmine asked Maya – “do you want to keep the train, because if you don’t I’ll return it”
- Maya said she did not want the train and Jasmine decided to repackage it and return it to the store
- Jasmine took Maya to the store with her - so Maya could witness the return and know that mommy was ‘serious’
- Jasmine asked Maya one last time if she wanted to keep the train
- Maya replied, “no mommy.”
- So Jasmine handed over the train, along with her credit card and returned the train
- For a moment, Maya looked sad and asked Jasmine, “is the train no longer mine?”
- Jasmine said, “no, it belongs to the store.”
- Maya then asked, “did the money go back on mommy’s card?”
- Jasmine said, “yes”
- Maya then stated, “so now mommy can buy Maya another toy.”

So what is the moral of the story? That children are actually smarter? That you don’t have to explain the value of money but rather the mechanics of a credit card? That they not only understand and know the value of money, but are being economical by playing with the toy, returning and only then getting another one?

By the way, I have since bought a toothbrush holder…it was $9.99+tax…but in my defence at least it is ceramic and not cheap plastic.