Our Abigail is quite the artist. Above you see her latest composition: "Circles and Lines. A study in geometry and the an exploration of the colors purple and orange on blue canvas. The Artist eschews the use of paper, preferring to create her masterpieces as murals. Crayon, Pencil and Marker are her favorite mediums... though in a pinch she will use peanut butter in very, very creative ways. She is determined in her drive to create new, exciting pieces.... dodging the efforts of the despots (Rob and Melinda) to deny her access to crayons, pencils, and markers by locking them away. She hordes her tools under couch cushions and behind beds.... awaiting the moment of inspiration... when she must obey the desire to create.
Her brother is not interested in her artistic efforts. He scoffs at her art and pursues more capitalistic endeavors. He has discovered the reward system. A perfect 21 out of 21 score on a spelling test should mean a tangible reward. The despots have told him that: "Your reward is the good feeling you have for trying hard, doing your best and scoring 100%." HA! He laughs in the face of this feel-good philosophy. He wants Transformers and he wants them now! Future academic success hinges on the application of the reward system. He has the despots where he wants them.
How will our story end? Will the despots triumph in their efforts to control the Artist and Mr. Reward? Or will the cunning minds of the gruesome twosome gain the upper hand? The scale is swinging in favor of the younger generation... the despots are currently huddled together discussing strategy after futile strategy. Stay tuned..... our saga continues.
10 comments:
Yesterday my son scored a goal at soccer and tried to covince me that it was worth $20! What ever happened to 'hard work is its own reward'???
Hahaha!
Another baby brother story: he mowed under the trampoline, and wanted extra pocket money for going to the extra trouble of moving the tramp. Thing is, he didn't mow any where else. (he was eight)
And my son, once forged his sisters style of drawing people on the walls, so she would get in trouble. Only I could tell, they were perfect replicas but too neat! (she was in her octopus people phase ie, arms and legs coming out of heads)
My money's on the kids.
Well 21 out of 21 IS very good. I'd probably cave and reward him.
Perhaps you could arm your budding Picasso with the Spray n Wipe and see if she still likes doing murals if she has to do all the scrubbing off afterwards?
Don't despots usually end up being overthrown? At least a coup at your place would be pretty...with all those crayons, pencils and markers at hand.
I have my very first blog spam! Someone left a comment (in spanish no less) asking me to add their personalized t-shirt blog to my blogroll. RIIIIIIIIIIGHT.
Chickie's starting to get the idea of being paid to do extra jobs around the house. Sometimes it feels like he's demanding 20 cents just to say hello to you!
He whines for a toy every single time we go anywhere vaguely near a shop, so we give him a small amount of pocket money so he can buy his own toys. It's not really enough to buy much of a toy unless he saves up a couple of weeks or does extra to earn more. He's starting to get the idea, thank goodness. For a while I thought his room was going to be overrun in the cheap nasty $2 shop toys.
I meant to add...
He'll probably start with the idea of doing well at school requiring monetary reward soon too!
So glad I'm not the only one! Caramaena... we are working on a plan with J.T. for him to earn pocket money by doing odd jobs around the house. That way he can save up for things he wants. He has to give some of it to charity, too.
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