Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hey, who stole my material?!?

You may have noticed there hasn't been a whole lotta posting going on here at Florida Native Mom. That's because somebody has been stealing my best material! It's MiniMe. Now that she's a big "middle schooler" she has forbidden me from writing about her on the blog, in my monthly magazine column, etc. I would just ignore her request, but it turns out she knows how to get on the computer and find my blog. And she reads it.

This situation is kind of like having your parents "friend" you on Facebook. Totally sucks the fun out of posting messages.

But I've decided to do it anyway. So if you're MiniMe, stop reading now! And don't forget to brush your teeth!

Turns out the middle school has scheduled a field trip to Epcot for next month. The money for the trip was due today. Now MiniMe mentioned this field trip and its accompanying expense ($103.00) before the holiday break. She was determined to "earn" most of the money herself.  I was totally on board with this but wondered how I'd find a job for an 11 year old girl when baby slave labor has been all but wiped out in my part of the state (at least as far as I know).

Her idea - she was going to earn the money babysitting.

Now she's never babysat before. So I suggested I had some friends that might let her come over and spend some time while they were there with the kids to let her try it out. However, my real goal was to get her to do some work around this house to earn her money!

Every day she'd ask me, "Did you call your friend about having me babysit?"

"Um, no I'll do it later. But you know there's plenty of things you can do around here to earn some extra money."

She dismisses this idea and walks away.

Next day, "Did you call your friend yet about the babysitting?"

"Um no but how about if you clean and sort my kitchen cabinets. I'd pay you for that!"

Day after day she asked about babysitting. Day after day I gave her chores to do here for money.

So today when the money was due and she had not earned any, she told me that she didn't really want to go to Epcot. She would just stay at school that day with "alternate" assignments. I wrote out the check, signed all the forms and sent her off to school with a twinkle in my eye . . ..

"You're going to Epcot AND you'll be working that money off in the meantime, and not by playing with other people's babies!"

Just call me the new and improved Baby Slave!

6 comments:

Sayre said...

I hope that works out for you. I feel lucky to get my son to make his bed and feed the dogs. He's supposed to get an allowance for that, but he borrowed money from me and now doesn't get his allowance until his next birthday (April). He still has to make his bed and feed the dogs though.

Martha said...

Love it! I only make my kids do a few things here and there for chores because I know at least a couple times a month they will be begging and pleading to buy x-box live points - that's when they become my slaves for a day lol!

Anonymous said...

For some reason I can hear my Dad...."know I'm not just going to give you money...you have to earn it"!!! So each week I had a list of chores to complete before the allowance was handed out. So...now that my daughter is now driving her own car she is contiually holding out her hand....!!! Even offered to follow me to the ATM machine...how sweet of her!!! Now I find myself saying the same exact words...."I'm not just going to give you money...you have to earn it". Well, so far, she does bath the dog every other week and......well, that is about it. At least she drives away from me at the ATM smiling and waiving...... Lovey Lynn....(Charming Cousin's girlfriend)

Shellbelle said...

Kudos to you! I find I've turned into one of those cantankerous old women who shakes her head and says things like, "Kids these days!"

I did chores when I was a kid and my kids did the same. When I came back to Florida and was living with my sister and her then two teenagers, they did nothings around the house. My nephew would even set the garbage from his room by the trashcan in the kitchen for me to take outside. My sis explained he had school, baseball and friends that took up all his time.

Now I'm staying with my daughter and 19 yo granddaughter. Love her tons, but getting her to do anything is like pulling teeth.

Isn't this part of parenting? You got the right idea and roll with it, good for you!

Sandcastle Momma said...

I woke up about a year ago and realized that even though we are a family of 5 I'm the only one who ever does anything around here. So we had a big meeting and I laid down the chores list.
And they have 2 kinds of chores - some that they do just because they have to contribute to the family and then some that they get paid for. That way they know I'm not paying them to make their own beds LOL

Anonymous said...

its minie me and mooom! i soo told you to stop talking about me on ur stupid blog! and another thing YOUR SOOO EMBARRISING!!!