My baby turned seven today. I need to take a minute to sniffle about that … he’s growing up way too fast.
For his birthday, he got a gift card from one grandma and $20 from his other grandparents. We took him over to the store to spend his money, and I thought he was going to run around like a maniac grabbing everything and we’d have to remind him of his budget. But you know what, he didn’t.
He knew he wanted Legos, so we went to the Lego aisle, and then he began a very careful investigation of everything there. He asked me to remind him how much money he had, and then he set about the task of finding things in his budget. He didn’t ask for more money, or complain that the really cool set was out of his reach. Instead, he concentrated on what he could afford, and did a little mixing and matching to boot.
He ended up with three Lego Hero Factory guys and a mini-figure, and he was absolutely excited. He danced and sang all the way out to the car about how happy he was to have his own money, and how much fun it was to spend it. I didn’t dance and sing all the way to the car, but I was filled with my own joy, that of knowing that he has been absorbing the lessons we’ve been trying to teach him about making good decisions and being accountable. I thought he was going to be totally irresponsible and flaky, and he proved me completely wrong. It’s almost like he was a little bit older than seven there for a minute as he weighed the merits of this set over that and noticed how many pieces each set has.
There are days when I’m absolutely convinced that no one has heard a word I’ve said, and then there are days, like today, when I realize that they did hear, and they did understand, and they will implement. These are good, good days, and they help me remember why I’m doing all this.
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