Life Lessons for the Little

We're having a MASSIVE yardsale at our church to benefit our upcoming missions trip to Romania.  I informed Ella of this and she got super excited.  The next thing she said was this,

"Mom.  I need money.  Can you give me some money?  Mom, you really need to give me some money."  A little while later, exaserbated, "Mom.  You haven't given me any money yet!"

Ummmmm, no suh!  No child of mine is going to grow up with a world view/attitude/sense of entitlement like this.  People say that the younger generations have no sense of responsibility.  Well, let me just let you in on my theory on that...IT'S BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS NEVER INSTILLED IT IN THEM.  Time for a little life lesson my love. 

ME: Ella, let's have a chat.  Let's have a little chat about where money comes from.  How does daddy get money for our family?

ELLA:  He goes to work every day.  (This is one of those, "Praise the Lord, we're doing something right!" moments.) 

ME:  That's right honey.  So what do you think you could do to get some money?

ELLA:  (Scrunches her face up and says with a questions mark) Go to work?

ME:  Well, kind of.  You could do some extra chores to get some money.

(Ella then folds her arms, turns on heel, lets out a loud groan and stomps out of the room.  OY!) 

ME:  That's your choice if you don't want to, but you won't have any money for the yardsale.

ELLA:  (a few minutes later...comes back into the room)  Like what kind of chores?

I explained she wouldn't get money for normal things on her responsibility chart like picking up toys, getting dressed on her own, brushing teeth etc.  But that we could think of extra things and she could get .25 cents for each chore. 

I made a picture list and she now has 4 chores she can earn a quarter for each time she does them

1.)  Water veggie garden if it needs it.

2.)  Help Set and Clear table.

3.)  Help unload dishwasher.

4.)  Help with laundry (one full load meaning...load it up, put soap in, start it, switch it to dryer, take it out of drying into laundry basket.)

The child has already earned .75 cents and is LOVING it!  It's not mean.  It's not cruel.  It's not too much for a three and a half year old.  It teaches her about responsibility, choices and consequences, work ethic, life not to mention it gives her a sense of accomplishment and pride.  Today was a good parenting day!