Our sons have been resisting a certain fast-food chain in exchange for $10 a week to spend on Jurassic Park toys on ebay. They went two weeks the first time and then went three weeks the second time. Today was the end of the three weeks. Onto ebay we went to search for a command compound. Well, we found a lot of 60 JP toys for a reasonable amount that to them seemed huge. The boys wished we had that much money hanging around.
So, we grasped the teachable moment. We told them together they had $60. That left quite a balance. We had a long family discussion about their options from the Bank of Mom & Dad. We explained what credit is, the conditions of repayment, and what happens if they don’t pay it back. The two boys deliberated, asked what types of chores would be involved as Jurassic Park chores, and discussed it back and forth for a long time (for an eight and six year old).
They decided to buy on credit from the Bank of Mom & Dad.
They shook on the deal.
They stood on either side of me as I clicked “Buy It Now.”
They cheered!
They are now the proud owners of 6 JP vehicles, 3 T-rexes, about 20 dinosaurs (many with sounds or actions), about 20 action figures, a motorcycle, a fence compound with classic JP gates, and a Chaos Effect mobile command center. They each grabbed a juice box and toasted their investment. Then, being young boys, they began divvying up the toys.
They are now in bed, having difficulty falling asleep because it feels quite a bit like Christmas…except they paid for the toys. The older son came out to ask if he could read a story to his brother to help him fall asleep. He grabbed the big blue book (it’s a big thick book of children’s literature…same one I had growing up…a gift from my mom). As I eavesdropped on the reading, I heard “Night Before Christmas” being read.
Their Jurassic Park room just got a lot of cool accessories. And we hopefully taught them a little something about managing their money and responsibility.
ohbloodyhell8 
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