My oldest wants to make money, nah…he wants to do nothing and make money. He’s really starting to piss me off too. Here is the conversation we had last week:
“Mom I wanna make money to buy sweet shoes at Dick’s. What can I do?”
“Lemme thing…umm….oh, the downstairs closet needs cleaned out!”
“Ok, how much?”
“$5 dollars.”
“$5 dollars?” He scoffed, as if I said I would pay him in Sweet & Low sugar packets. This closet is the size of a coffin. You would have thought I asked him to clean out the closet at Vogue.
“Yeah, $5 dollars. You aren’t building an addition to the house.”
He continued to laugh an arrogant laugh, like he was too good to do such paltry work for a whole $5. I noted his laugh and found nothing funny about it.
“Look, this closet will take you 30 minutes, that’s like $10 an hour, more than minimum wage. That’s my price and if you don’t want to do it, fine.”
I was half tempted to leave it as a chore for him to do for free when the nanny came on Monday but forgot.
This was last week, just now my husband and I were discussing his attitude towards money when my 8-year-old chimed in.
“$5 dollars for the closet?”
“Yeah, you wanna earn some money?” I asked.
“Sure!” He responded and promptly got off his video game.
He’s not too proud to do it! He’s like fuck that shit. $5 dollars is $5 dollars. And so, 20 minutes in, he is almost done and will be $5 richer than his bro.
P.S. If you haven’t figured it out, the featured image is of my youngest makin’ those dollas’.
Life lessons right here?
Exactly and when the oldest is a 40 year old Sprint store sales associate and the younger is a doctor, he’ll suddenly realize he lacks motivation.
Kids are great!!!!!
That’s one word for them…
Gotta be positive eh! ?
Did I write that or you? I swear I had a similar discussion very recently here!! Flipping kids…what was that Dire Straits song form way back…. Money for Nothing…
….and your chicks for free…but even prostitutes cost money so he’ll still be out of luck. That’s hilarious you had a recent conversation with your kid!
Haha, very true!! I often find posts that remind me of things that have happened recently. Must be some sort of parent synergy ESP field ?
Here’s one: As I type this, my youngest is swarming around me like a shark because he can’t entertain himself for 5 minutes on his own and he’s driving me insane!!!! Sorry, grumpy.
I’d like to say it gets better as they move into teens and examination years…but it all becomes DRAMA and life’s terrible…what would I know about revision? um hello !!!!! Don’t apologise… parents are allowed to be grumpy now and then 🙂
So I hear they are a disaster as teens too. Fantastic! The oldest is already beginning to display attitude on a regular basis.
lol, I think they have their own foibles at all ages; teens can be bleak, but if you set the ground work in as they end teens hopefully we come out of it as friends! Personally, I loved the toddler years… although at the time it was often a struggle but they were so full of excitement and energy. Its so unlike teens !!!!
LOL! So far, my oldest has been pretty responsible, but I can see the teenage attitude coming out so I’m guessing my future holds discussions like this. 🙂
Lisa, that’s awesome your teen is responsible! I hope we get there! He also wants a new computer and again, not going to just get him one.
I hear you! I’m always hearing about a new video game. Sigh. It just never ends. 🙂
I know! They come out with a new one EVERY SINGLE YEAR! I’m like, “what changed from last years Fifa?” And I can’t remember their response but I know it wasn’t earth shattering changes.
No. Probably better graphics. 🙂 Those companies know how to market to our littles don’t they? Grrrr…
Yep! Ass holes!!
You got that right!
Oh, P is learning the hard way!! Good for Carter. I once paid my sisters a quarter to clean my disasterous bedroom!! Of course, that was in the 70’s!!
I’ll tell him this! He just landed a babysitting job for $10/hour. Hopefully he does well and starts to get regulars.
Now that is teaching a lesson.
You know it!
Now that is teaching a lesson to your oldest.
He just needs to learn he isn’t going to earn $20/hour for making his bed or playing video games. This is why the youngest is loaded and the oldest is on tween welfare.
I just heard myself as a teen in your oldest’s response. I did turn out to be a responsible adult with a great deal of gratitude for all the hard work it took to raise a pain in the butt like me. So–there’s that. 🙂
Well that does give me hope! Thank you!
Too funny Angela, kids are all the same, no matter which corner of the globe we live in.
Lorelle 🙂
Where are you out of? Yeah, they want to clean a closet for like $40. I don’t think so homie!
I’m in Melbourne, Australia.
Totally agree. ??
Ah man! I would totally love to visit Australia! It looks so beautiful!
You should organise a trip. There’s so much to see here. We are truly lucky to live in this wonderful country. ?
And I LOVE your accent! There is just something about that accent! Are there a lot of snakes there though? I heard that and I have a severe phobia of snakes. I know, I’m ridiculous.
You’re funny. No snakes in the cities. Only in the bush and county towns. That’s ok. I have a severe phobia of birds…. now that’s ridiculous ?
$5 is a really good rate! Good on your little dude for making that cash! I used to do the cupboards for 20p!
hehe!! 3rd gets 50 cents every time he cleans the patio of dog poop. A pretty good idea I think! He does it twice a day some times.
1st wants money too but she has the same attitude as P. She did want to have a yard sale (great idea! Plus it would get her to clean her room) but her mom didn’t want to deal with the hassle and told her if I agreed to supervise then she could do it. I haven’t heard another word about it….
Love it! Kids shut down real fast when they know their is real work involved! LOL!
haha I know!
Awww, he tried to pull some Art of the Deal shit and ended up with nuffin’.
I’m not laughing, Eldest… I’m crying for you in short, sharp bursts. Oh, you’re not buying that? Probably ‘cuz you’re still BROKE. (I can do this all day, so if you ever run out of sarcasm just tag me in!)
Exactly!
LOL! I totally will.