Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Teaching my kids how to manage their money has been more of a struggle than I would like. It's so hard for me to stand by and watch them make bad choices, but that's exactly what I learned I must do from Love & Logic. I have to give them opportunities to fail while the consequences are still relatively small. So, enters the "ice cream man." You know the music playing, bells ringing, while some creepy guy drives really slow through your neighborhood, and manages to lure all our children out onto the street. I cringe every time I hear the sound. And then starts my speech about what a rip off it is, and how we can go to the grocery store and buy a whole box for the price of one of theirs. There must be something wrong with my speech, because it's not sinking in.

Monday rolled around, and it was one of our first HOT days of the season, so I finally let the girls get the sprinkler out and play in it. That's when I heard the familiar music playing, and knew there was no way I could distract them from it. So, for once I did nothing; just sat and hoped that they would learn the lesson on their own. Sophie came running in the house, "Mom, I need my wallet! We stopped the ice cream man!" She's so excited she just spins in a circle, not even knowing where to look for her wallet. I remind her of where she keeps it, and out the door she goes. I went to my watch post (their bedroom window) so I could have a good view of how it all played out. She bought two "bomb pops" -- always nice to see her looking out for her sister (Chloe would have done the same). I grabbed my camera to document the occasion, and by the time I reached them I think they had already decided this was a bad purchase. Their popsicles were SOUR. They weren't very frozen, so they were dripping everywhere. Chloe hardly ate any of hers. So, I guess you could say I got the failure I was looking for. Now I just need to wait and see if the lesson has been learned. They quickly went back to playing in the sprinkler, and we were all happy -- for a while.