It began with Ned and his yo-yo show assembly. The kids came home from school amazed and filled with longing to purchase yo-yos. Patch was the only child who had enough money, but Gleek and Link conferenced with him. They hammered out an agreement which got yo-yos for everyone. This worked by Patch paying out most of the money. I was happy that they were cooperating, but to insure that older siblings were not taking advantage of their tender-hearted younger brother, I made a careful record of the money owed. Gleek and Link were now in debt.
The kids really have not had much money lately. This is because I tied allowance to chores and then chores slid out of the busy schedule. The debt has galvanized me into more discipline. I don’t want to have to keep track of the debt forever. Also I want all my kids to be square with themselves and each other. So chores were placed firmly back into the afternoons. And the long disused chore incentive chart began to collect squares again. The kids had been 9 squares away from an ice cream party reward for almost a year. This afternoon they earned it.
I have in my freezer three kinds of ice cream. There will be chocolate syrup, warm cookies, and sprinkles. The celebration will be merry and then they will all go to bed. Tomorrow we will continue with the chores and begin collecting squares to earn allowance and to inch ever closer to the next ice cream party. It is good.