Girl's birthday is coming up this weekend. We are going to go horseback riding. The grandkids have never been on a horse and it's been an awful long time since I've been on one. I used to have two horses when my kids were younger but once they grew up the horses were given away. I've thought about getting more since the grandkids live with me but with my work schedule I think it would be too much to have them here. Also at my old house I had irrigated pasture so I never had to buy feed. At this place the pasture isn't irrigated. I could carry one horse on the property if I got rid of the sheep. The sheep are more valuable since they provide food for us. I would need a couple of horses if they were going to be used as bug-out vehicles and they are very expensive to have to feed.
The other day boy made arrangements with the next door neighbor to do some yardwork to earn some money. When he first told me he wanted to get a job he had his sights set on using the neighbors tractor or even lawn mower. I reminded him that he is only eight so he will need to tell the neighbor all the things that he is capable of doing: dusting, sweeping, washing floors, unloading the dishwasher, pulling weeds, trimming roses (he's my go to person for this task), cutting suckers off fruit trees, and a bunch of other things as well. The neighbor hired him and yesterday he worked for about four hours. He came home with ten dollars! He was so excited about having so much money. I told him to put the money in his drawer and he'll be able to bring it with us when we go to North Carolina next week.
This morning he came into the kitchen with his ten dollars. Since he was going to spend the night at his cousins house he asked if I would buy his sister a birthday present with the money. What do you want to buy her? First he said maybe material because she likes to make stuffed animals. Then he said a bb gun. She wants her own bb gun. Does he have enough money to buy one for her? I'll have to go to the store and find out. I can go to Walmart today. No, he told me to go to Big-5. The last time I went to Big-5 to pick up some ammunition he was eyeing the bb guns. Sure I'll go to Big-5. I went to Big-5 this evening and found a bb gun for girl that cost $39. That's close to $10. I think I will have him do a couple of chores to make up the difference. I'm just so impressed that he wanted to spend the money he earn working for four hours on his sister. I'm wondering if he figures that if girl has her own bb gun that he'll get the use the family bb gun any time he wants. That would be clever thinking.
While I was at Big-5 I noticed they had some cheap flashlights that came 6 for $9.99. They even had 18 AAA batteries as part of the package to go with the flashlights. I bought a pack and will give each of the four kids going horseback riding a new flashlight. I'm sure that girl will use hers to "sneak" reading under her covers at night. What a sneaky way to get the kids to read more! They will also be able to keep the flashlights in their backpacks for our trip.
I love it when siblings are sweet to each other. My oldest just did something similar for his little brother the other day. He spent his entire $5 saved up allowance (earned $1 at a time) to buy his little brother a stuffed animal. It really made me tear up.... :)
ReplyDeleteWorking for neighbors was a tradition in my house growing up. My brother and I would also work in place of our grandfather so he could go back to Illinois to see family on vacation.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great spirit the boy has to think of others.