The Value of a Dollar

A couple of weeks ago the kids and myself went to visit my mom. She had a few out-of-town guests staying with her, long time family friends, with kids my kids love to play with. Sometime during their playtime outside the 7 year old thought it would be fun to do some yard cleanup with the three younger children. So they busily went about sweeping the patio, raking the yard, and picking up anything out of place. My mom was so impressed that she decided to pay all 4 kids for their impromptu service, giving the 3 youngest just a dollar each. My kids were so excited. Aidan said, "A dollar?! That's like a million dollars!". So Aidan and Seery each put their dollar in their piggy banks. Well by the time Saturday rolled around they were ready to spend that very dollar. So I said that I would take them to the Dollar Store. Since it was their dollar they walked up and down every aisle, carefully deciding what to buy. The results surprised me. Seery decided nothing was worth spending her dollar on. Aidan finally picked out a pirate toy. As we waited in line to pay I told him to count out 7 cents from his bag of money to pay for tax. He said, "No. This is called the dollar store, they get a dollar, I'm not giving anymore.". I was impressed he even made that connection, and that he cared about 7 cents. So the cashier tried to explain to him about tax. He refused and said it was a dollar store and that everything is $1, and that's that. So I thought I had quietly given her the change. But I guess not. Aidan noticed and said, "You didn't giver her my pennies did you?", I said no, they were actually mine, and he said, "Good". Yeah, I guess money is not so easy to spend when it's your own! It was a good lesson for them both. They have not asked me to buy them anything for the last 2 weeks. They also ask when we go places if it will cost me money. They finally have connected the dots and realized that people have to work hard to earn money, and therefore there is a lot of value to even just one dollar.