Hard Work and Determination Pay

Raising children in this day and age, Joe and I wonder how we will raise children who understand the value of a dollar and know that want isn’t the same as need. How do we instill the understanding of earning things?

This past Christmas each girl got a hand held video game. I have been against this for a long time, but the girls wanted them and we got a great deal, so we took the plunge.

Once the girls had the handhelds, they immediately wanted MORE games to play in them. Julia wanted Guitar Hero in the worst way. To get that game you have to purchase the game for $35 and then also purchase the guitar unit in order to play. To purchase everything ran anywhere from $80 to $90 depending on the store. It was more than was appropriate to spend “just because” and more crazy seeing that Christmas had only just passed. From the beginning we told her we weren’t going to purchase that, thinking we would buy it for her birthday or next Christmas, but not just on a whim. At one point I told her that if she could buy it with her own money she could have it. When she heard that she became determined to save her money and own it soon. I suggested that she should watch the sale fliers and see if should could get it for a better price.

So, every Sunday she would pour over every flier looking for Guitar Hero to go on sale. On the weekends she would do extra things to earn money and her allowance. She organized the food pantry without being asked, she would dust, offer to help with jobs that weren’t really her responsibility. It was great to see her have such a focus on a goal. She managed to save up quite a bit of money for an 8 year old. While all this was going on, Lexi got the bug for a new game too. She wanted to get the I Spy, but she wasn’t set on getting it herself. She didn’t really want to put the effort in to earning it.

So the day finally came when the ever elusive game was ON SALE! Best Buy had Guitar Hero as a package deal for the guitar unit and the game for only $60. Julia ran upstairs and brought out her money. She had saved $30. I had not given out her allowance yet for the week and that $5 brought her to $35. She was trying everything to convince Joe and me to kick in the extra cash. She has worked so hard to save this money. It was REALLY hard to just stand our ground and say no. Finally, Julia approached me and said “I have a $25 Target gift card in my dresser. Would you please buy that from me and then I will have enough money.” I thought that was a very creative thought. She had her goal within arms reach and she figured out a way to accomplish it. I think we were prouder about her industriousness than she was happy about getting the game.

Once Lexi realized that Julia was getting a game she was then really determined to get a game today too. She wanted her I Spy game and she wanted it NOW! Again I went with the “if you can pay for it you can have it.” So Lexi was defeated, but Julia came up with the idea that they could count the money in their piggy bank and come up with the $25 Lexi needs to get the game. Off they went to get the bank and count money. They sat on the living room floor for the longest time counting money. Lexi had just learned the value of the smaller coins so she was counting away right beside Julia. About an hour later, the girls had $25 in coins (which mostly Julia counted) and Lexi was grinning from ear to ear with pride that she had figured all this out and she would get a game. Julia was kind enough to let Lexi have the lime light. It was a great day for everyone. We were so impressed with Julia that day. She knew she was going to be happy and she wanted Lexi to be happy too, so she went out of the way to help Lexi.

When the day was over and we had pried the games out of the girl’s hands, they drifted off to sleep with big smiles on their faces. Joe and I started to talk about what Julia had accomplished and how she diligently worked at meeting that goal. On top of that, she didn’t want Lexi to feel left out so she figured out a way to help her too. It was then that we realized we are teaching the girls little by little that not everything comes easy and that hard work and determination do pay off. There will still be times that they get things too quickly and too easily, but we are also teaching them that "want" isn’t the same as "need" and there are times when you will have to work hard before you can reach your goal.