Child Labor

In a discussion about chores and 'allowances', I asked the boys two questions: "what happens when you work?" And "what happens when you break the law?"

I was looking for the answers "you get paid" and "you get fined". 

The answers I got? "You have to do things you do not like to do" and "you get to spend time alone in your room." . . . . Where did we go wrong??

Now, on another note...  I highly recommend the system of parents paying commissions to children for work  completed and receiving fines from children for bad behavior and/or work not completed.

I have a tin can (momma's bank) that has dollars and quarters in it.  The twins have a joint jar (where goes the money for all their chores at the beginning of the week - before they do anything at all).  And they each also have their own jar for their personal savings (and from which they pay me fines for their bad behavior).  

So, here is how it works.  On Sunday, we get all the jars together.  The boys take the contents of their joint jar and split it evenly between themselves and put their money in their own jars.  If there is an extra quarter, they just leave it in the jar for the next week.  Then, they get $5.00 put in their joint jar for the next week's chores.  If the twins do not do a chore they are supposed to do, they pay the fine (for not doing the work) out of the joint jar.  If one or the other of the twins gets fined - for misbehaving, lying, etc - that fine comes out of their individual jar.

Since they don't get a lot of money each week, it takes a long time to save up money for something special (have you SEEN the price of a large set of Legos lately?!)  So, if there is something they really, REALLY want, and they can save over half of the total, we'll chip in the rest. 

And that is exactly what Twin A just did.  Well, and that $5 dollar bill he found in the bushes at the park.  He had $34 dollars saved and a $4.89 balance on a gift card at Toys R Us.  So we went to Toys R Us and they didn't have the Alien Conquest Mother Ship!!   (Enter crisis mode.)  

He held back tears while we went up to the front to ask if they had any more or could order it. Not only are they are not carrying them in the store anymore, but the price had gone up $7 dollars online. 

My husband and I got on our phones and found one at a nearby Wal-Mart.  When we got there, it was on clearance for twenty bucks less!

Here he is right after finding it!