Now my son didn’t wake up Sunday and announce to family and friends, “I wish to be Tupac or Eminem.” No, he has simply requested, nah, demanded a set of luxuries that go beyond my husband’s and my means. Maybe these would be possible if my husband didn’t put hundreds of dollars a month into soccer fees, uniforms and tournaments but that is where our money goes so our sons hopefully get a scholarship. Not that I’ve thought long and hard about this and I’m just brainstorming, but if a scholarship comes about and there are thousands of dollars left over in college funds, we are going to be the ones livin’ like rappers. At 70, I’ll be makin’ it rain with dolla’ bills while Flo-rida plays in the background.
So below is a list of what he, as a 12 year old feels is completely practical to ask for. When we tell him that most kids aren’t fortunate enough to have this list he has requested, he looks at us as if we have just told him standard school dress code will now be pink and purple tutus.
The List
- Pair of $130 tennis shoes (do they even call them tennis shoes anymore? I call them tenni bops.)
- Flat screen, colored tv in his room (this after the doctor confirming for him that a tv in a kids room is a bad idea)
- New bedroom suit (despite it coming from Ikea, we are still talking $500+)
- Apple music renewal now that his 3 month free trial and 3 month gift card has run out
- Desktop top computer, but possibly a laptop since he sees the merits of both
- Camera, like the famous You Tubers have (this I’m mildly considering but we share since I want to dabble in vlogging)
So there you have it. This is on top of paying for a nanny for the summer and the soon to be back to school supply list that normally costs no less than $250. So tell me, do you have kids or know kids who are in the business of livin’ large right now? How do you cope or do you flat out just say NO! Now full disclosure, my son is trying to earn money through babysitting but no one is going on dates often enough to earn the money he needs to afford his wanna be extravagant lifestyle.
Let me guess, this is the same kid that didn’t want to clean the closet out for some cash… I’d tell him ‘Tough titties! You want luxuries in your life, you gotta learn to work for them.’ My parents were hard on me and I turned out okay. Why not suggest, similar to babysitting, pet sitting and/or dog walking? It may not pay as much, but usually it’s more frequent.. I loved my pet sitting gigs when I was younger.
OMG!! Yes, how did you guess? Lol! The dog walking is a good idea! How much should he charge?
As with any business, he needs to start low and build up some clientele/resume. Once he has a few people that can/will vouch for him, he can raise his prices. For walking, I’d say $5-$10 per day, depending on how many times a day. If he were to in-home pet sit while people are away, I’d say $15-$25, depending on how many animals. That would include multiple walks/visits per day, feeding, playtime, etc.
Thanks! We’ll work that into his flyer we are making tonight!
I wouldn’t worry until he asks to have all of his teeth converted to gold. 🙂
LOL! No you didn’t?!?! Sooo funny!
well…I would imagine 32 of those things in all gold would be extremely expensive
If he tries s*** like that, I’m dropping him off at the orphanage!
ha! if he’s got the gold teeth, my money is on him busting out! 😉
If any child of mine had gold teeth I’d be like, “what the fuuuuucccckkkkk…..”
hahaha…I can imagine
Hilarious!! I can just see P like Tupac!! Just an fyi- when you were about 5-6 I was taking you somewhere and I had to stop by an ATM to get some cash. When I proceeded to withdraw $20, which was the majority of my balance, you insisted that I get more $$ and said you needed to go to buy some clothes. After laughing and explaining that there isn’t an endless amount of $$ in the account, we left and I think you were disgusted the rest of the time. Maybe you told G, and that’s why she thought I was a bad Godfather. Ha ha ha
That story is so adorable! I probably thought the wall was a source of unlimited money, like a water fountain! P.S. They had ATM’s that long ago? Wow! LOL!
If it eases the pain any, you’re getting off easy at $250 for supplies.
My go-to response when he asks for something outlandish? “When you can pay for it yourself, you can have just about anything you want. Until then, have you seen this handy list of what I’m actually required, by law, provide you?”
God bless you! You have a response to everything. Side note, is there really a physical list I could print off to use for my argument?
There is, and you won’t believe how little we actually have to provide. Our kid’s therapist clued us in when he was whining about having to do chores and how his friends get All The Things without having to do any chores (bullshit for most of them, except the ones belonging to the irresponsible twat down the street). Turns out, sports drinks, cool clothes, hair products, even shampoo is not something we’re actually required to provide. Now, am I going to start feeding my kid nothing but ramen (totally allowed) and make him wash his hair and body with a bar of Ivory soap and buy his four sets of clothes at the thrift stores only when he outgrows the last set? No, because I can afford to do better than that and I want to do better than that. But it’s nice to wave it in his face when he whines about only having ONE of the consoles, or that his laptop isn’t a badass gaming rig like mine, or that his friend got a car for their 16th (one friend. One. And everybody hates that kid’s parents, because we don’t live in that sort of town so they’re just being assholes.)
This drives home my philosophy: Bad parenting makes my job tougher. One big thing they want that many friends have is a tv in their room. Not needed!
When my son was young he always wanted high price tennis shoes. I would put in what I would have paid for his shoes and he had to come up with the rest. It would equal him buying one shoe and me buying the other. My younger son did odd jobs and collected and sold scrap metal. The older one was really good about getting in on s payday.
Well, we were supposed to make up fliers last night for babysitting, dog walking and mowing but my youngest had soccer practice so perhaps this weekend. I’m never going to have new clothes for the next decade as all funds will go into them purchasing overpriced crap. You feel me?
The kids I nanny for basically have the same expectations. It’s not *too* bad, but they are spoiled with things quite a lot.
And from what I’m finding, only gets worse as they get older. Blah!!!
lol! I like how you are making him work for his money. That’s such a great idea. I had chores and a (very small) allowance, and part time jobs and all that growing up. It really helped me to value money as I got older.
And I think that will help P too!
My kids are grown now, and now my eldest daughter is dealing with this scenario with her babies … it’s kind of a beautiful karma full circle lol!
My answers to either of my daughters, when they expected anything, was either No, NO and Nope … or … Get A J O B. 🙂
Turns out the youngest decided she’d make do with what she had – ‘these hands aren’t made for hard work’ lol; and the oldest got a job but decided she didn’t want to spend money on ‘un-necessary shit’ lol – but it was alright to expect Me to buy it.
Bloody Kids 😉
I just need to grow a pair and stand up to my tweener and say NO, just like you! I mean, I haven’t bought clothes for myself in so long I almost forget how to do it.
Oh hell yes … The art of saying Nope is a beautiful thing 🙂 Practice makes perfect – so do the little things first. e.g.. Can you make me breakfast? … ‘Nope. Make your own.’ etc etc … before you know it, it’ll be rolling off your tongue like lyrics to a rap lol