08.19.08
Posted in Kid's Responsibilities at 1:22 pm by CreditMom
Almost a month ago I posted about my twins’ desire to replace their broken RockBand drums. I’d love to say they have earned the money for new replacement drums by hard and earnest work but I can’t say that. Granted they were away in summer sleepaway camp for a month giving them few work opportunities but the urgency is just not there yet.
When I last wrote, one twin was scooping poop and enjoying it while the other was performing more adhoc requests like laundry. The good news is my poop scooping twin is still scooping (not necessarily enjoying it but I guess given the nature of the job I can’t fault him) and still getting paid. The bad news is my adhoc twin is still negotiating the chores he would like to do. The problem is he really doesn’t want to do any chores so he doesn’t have much leverage here. So one twin is getting an allowance and the other is not.
Here is the fun part. The scooper twin has enough allowance for his share of the RockBand drums. Since the adhoc twin hasn’t earned much, he does not have enough money to cover his share. While in Target, scooper twin asked if we can buy the RockBand drums. Unfortunately I had to tell him no because his brother did not do his share and perhaps he speak with him and encourage him to get off his butt and start doing something around the house.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking…bad parenting. I’m pitting one son (twins to make matters worse!) against the other and they’ll be emotionally destroyed for life. My response is Get a Grip! Adhoc twin (although I love him dearly) needs a kick in the pants to start thinking and acting responsibly and who better to deliver that message than his now frustrated twin brother – in fact if you listen closely you just might be able to hear the conversation right now. Kids need to understand consequences and accept responsiblity from an early age. If we just replace the drums they broke what are we teaching them? Stay tuned……
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07.20.08
Posted in Kid's Responsibilities at 9:26 pm by CreditMom
I’ve been posting about my children’s quest to earn moneyto replace their broken RockBand drums. It’s been a bit tough for them since they have been away at camp but this weekend they decided they were going to tackle the issue head on….through allowance. In other words through our money.
So I decided to hear them out. The first twin said he would pick up the dog poop from the yard if I would buy him a pooper scooper. So I said to him, if you behave today, I’ll buy you a pooper scooper (yes I actually did hear those words come out of my mouth and yes there is something wrong with this picture!) But he did behave and off we went to Petco to invest in a $20 extra large sized pooper scooper which believe it or not excited him to no end.
What excited me was his attitude about working and his self motivation. He took it upon himself to wake up early and start his yard chore without any prompting from me. He was so excited that he wanted to show me how much he cleaned up but I passed on that one. I decided to give him allowance every time he does his chores as opposed to once a week so of course he got his allowance today.
The second twin didn’t like my suggestions of setting the table, emptying the dishwasher every night or kitchen clean up (who would like those suggestions? I can’t stand them myself!). So we settled on laundry. This could end up costing more than the allowance in the long run but I decided to take a chance by making sure his first load of laundry consisted of only swim suits and beach towels - can’t do too much damage with that. I posted instructions on the wall and to his credit he followed them precisely. In addition, he had to deliver each basket of laundry into the proper rooms. He also did a great job and got his allowance today as well.
I must say having my twins ask me to buy them things isn’t so bad because every time they ask I just say you can buy it with your own money. When they say they don’t have enough money, I just say work harder…not a bad lesson to learn early on right?
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07.07.08
Posted in Children's ID Theft at 10:30 pm by CreditMom
This week there has been much in the press about Facebook applications potentially leading to identity theft. Any one that has a Facebook account has seen the countless applications that are extremely popular with kids and adults alike. There’s movie compatability quizzes, brain games, send a friend a cupcake and many many more. I know my 14 year old can rattle off much more than I can and it seems every day he has loaded a new application (I know this because yes, I do openly monitor his Facebook).
Today I read this article from http://wbaltv.com regarding a game called “Mob Wars” that is an application on Facebook. You need to be 18 to play but of course any kid knows it’s pretty simple to lie about their age. Basically the player is a mob member and commits a variety of crimes. In order to get points the player clicks on a Godfather icon that leads him/her to a series of sketchy advertisements ranging from drug offers, adult magazines and credit applications that require a social security number. Many kids don’t know any better and input their social security number, subjecting them to ID theft.
The games are 3rd party web sites and not associated with Facebook but does the average kid know that and if so, would he/she even care? I feel Facebook does have responsibility to screen these applications since a major portion of their members are minors. In fact according to comScore Media Metrix the number of Facebook members between age 12 and 17 increased by 149% in 2007 vs. 2006. This age group is the largest growing segment and it does not include the amount of kids that lie about their age to place them in the 18+ bucket.
Do you feel Facebook should have stricter screening policies, is it the parent’s role or both? Would love to hear your thoughts.
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07.03.08
Posted in Kid's Responsibilities at 9:05 pm by CreditMom
Monday I posted about my twins’ quest to earn money to replace the RockBand drums they broke. They have $36 between them and need roughly $35 more. So, they decided to sell DVDs, video games and CD’s to earn the balance needed. I decided I was not going to remind them about their money making adventure and sit back and see just how motivated they are.
Well, surprise, surprise. Today on their own with no prompting from me, they gathered their items, asked me to make a sign (which I willingly did) and set up a table displaying their items outside our driveway. Since it’s a long holiday weekend I told them it probably wasn’t the best day to sell goods as many people were away and not strolling by as usual. But nevertheless they were determined to get out and sell.
Unfortunately I was correct. The streets were empty and no one stopped by but I told them not to get discouraged, they would have better luck on a non holiday weekend and they should just pack it in for tonight. I worried the lack of business would upset them but in no time they were back to their mischief, as I overheard one of them say in the kitchen, “hey, wanna play catch with this watermelon?”
Well my little bundles of mischief and menace are going to be away in camp for the next couple of weeks but when they return I’m sure they’ll be back out there again and hopefully they’ll have better results. And NO I did not allow them to play catch with a 15 lb watermelon in my kitchen. But I will continue to keep you posted on their countdown to $35.
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07.02.08
Posted in Kid's Responsibilities at 9:13 am by CreditMom
Last week my twins broke their RockBand drums. Since they’re twins we’ll never know who actually did the final damage but I’m used to that, as they have grown up in a world of “we” and “us”. A new replacement set is about $70 and I told them I refuse to pay for it and they would need to buy a new set from their own money or their allowance. I did, however search some of the RockBand posts and found this to be common problem. I mean, come on, they are drums and they are meant to be banged right?
But, nevertheless it’s their game and their responsibility and therefore, their replacement. I must say, they’re pretty resourceful. They searched for replacement drums online and of course came upon Ebay (I know this because one of them said, “Mom, what’s a bid?”). After explaining the bid process I told them the first thing to do is determine how much money they have combined. They got pretty discouraged when the total contents of their wallets came to $36, half of what they need.
It then prompted them to come up with ideas on how to earn the money. The first thing I said was, “how about do your chores so you can get an allowance?” They didn’t like that idea. Oh well, no chores, no allowance. They then decided they would work at Subway making sandwiches. I told them you need to be 16 to work at a store. To that they replied, “but we’re double digits, why can’t we work in a store?” Then they said, “We’ll sell our old sneakers!” I said, “oh sure, they’ll be lining up around the block to buy your dirty smelly sneakers.” They replied, “we’ll put those fabric softener things in them”.
After they told me I was making their lives very difficult, they decided to sell all of their old books, DVD’s, video games and CD’s. I had to coach them a bit on the pricing, as they suggested charging $20 for a 3 year old used video game, but they are determined to sell a bit every day after they return home from camp.
We’ll see how determined they are because I’m not going to push them at all. If they really want those drums, let’s see how creative they get…it’s a good lesson and I’ll keep you posted on their progress!
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06.30.08
Posted in Video Games at 1:29 pm by CreditMom
Wii, Playstation, XBox 360, kids and video games are out of control already - or are they? Video games are more sophisticated and therefore more expensive. The fully loaded average video gaming system can run in the $500 range. The games start at $50, with bundles like Rock Band going for upwards of $150.
Plus it’s an addicting time drain when your kids can be outside playing sports and socializing. But yet, many of us are falling prey. Why?
Well, I certainly do my share of yelling to shut down the video games, put them on timers and play referee to my 3 boys that all want to be on the system at the same time. I also lose my mind when a $50 game gets scratched because they “forgot” to put it back in it’s case or the drums from Rock Band break because they hit them too hard (of course we’ll never know which one of them was the culprit) . But lately I’ve backed down a bit because I must admit many of the games are quite fun, interactive and engage a team (not just solo play) of players at one time.
Take Rock Band or Guitar Hero for instance. My boys love this game, in fact I love it too. To get the most out of these games you need team participation. Believe it or not, there are times my kids actually invite me to do vocals (of course it’s a bit self serving as not one of them can remotely carry a tune, but I really don’t mind at all). Imagine a 14 year old boy “hanging out” with his friends and family? That’s just unheard of right? And the Wii sport games like tennis, golf, boxing and many more actually make them sweat and again, are best played as a team.
And I don’t believe for a minute that a child will use Rock Band as a substitute for playing the real instrument. In fact, in addition to the saxophone and trumpet my kids are now interested in taking drum and guitar lessons.
Of course like anything else video games can be used to excess. But isn’t that true of anything? Our job as parents is to exercise good judgment in the amount of time spent and the type of games played by our children. But I will say, when I have a ton of kids partying with Rock Band in the basement at least I can say I know exactly where my kids are and to me it’s worth the investment, how about you?
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