$99-$1.75=$97.25 to go

Have you seen this?

If you have not seen this or even heard it as you walk through Target lately, consider yourself lucky. It's all Henry talks and dreams about lately. On Monday when he got home from school there were a few "kid" friendly pieces of mail--Highlights and a Fischer Price catalog. I left them out on the counter for Hen to look at when he got home. What I expected was an excited little boy who would look through the toys and set it aside like everything else. What I didn't expect was for him to find this BigFoot Monster and spend the next 48 hours obsessing about it. For the first few hours it was begging, followed by whining. Finally, an action plan was created. If I could earn $$ then I can buy this monster.

REWIND:

Every cent Henry had found lying around in the last 6 weeks has been spent at the Target dollar section, with the exception of a few quarters at the YMCA vending machine, I know a bit counter productive. No matter how much we talk about saving the money, he insists on spending the money.

FAST FORWARD to PRESENT TIME

For the past 48 hours, I have not had to peel him away from the vending machine at the Y nor did we have to even look through the dollar section during our grocery shop.

He's all about save, save, save.

He's all about How can I earn some money.

He's all about What jobs can I do for you?

He's all about independence and You've showed me how to do this, now I can do it by myself.

Yesterday afternoon he had to watch this DVD episode: Berenstain Bears Trouble with Money. He wanted some ideas for jobs (he no longer refers to them as chores.) The bears do several jobs and set up several stands (lemonade, flower, honey) in effort to earn money for Air Bear Jackets. As they earn money the annoy their parents because they expect a quarter for everything. They annoy their friends because they no longer want to play. In the end, they earn enough money for the jackets, but use the money to buy less expensive jackets and then host a party for their friends.

I'm not expecting a party.

I'm not expecting to take out the trash for a while...

or needing to match socks for weeeeks!

I'm expecting he'll talk about this BigFoot Monster for a long time.

(He is his father's son and his grandfather's grandson.)

(I'm hoping he forgets about BigFoot.)

I invision this BigFoot being played with for an hour then being dumped like a lot of other toys.

But every boy deserves to dream, and I don't want to discourage but encourage. I believe in planning and carrying a plan to the end if it's something you strongly desire. So I'll find jobs, refuse to refold laundry, and help my boy achieve his dream.