A few short weeks ago before school started we found ourselves in a grocery store. This trip held a different tone , one of sheer excitement. For our 6 1/2 year old special needs son. Hubby and I…..not so thrilled, you see our son had gotten this “passion”. It was a passion to earn Money…how much? 50¢. Yep That’s it. Two quarters was just enough to get him something tiny (he has a thing for ALL things tiny). And a few weeks prior he had spotted something that bears all things tiny…..GUMBALL MACHINES!
Now hubby and I aren’t fans for 1 major reason and lots of other smaller reasons. But the 1 big reason…
It’s all JUNK! Everything you get breaks easily. We believe that you should save your money for something worthwhile. Something you really want that is great quality! BUT as is the case with most kids like our son, they obsess, and obsess, and obsess some more…..and sometimes we break, we go against our better judgement and we cave, because we can’t reason with him until….he learns a lesson….the hard way.
GUMBALL machines advertise the best case scenario On their fronts but in reality there’s a lot of silly stuff with the best of junk hidden in there somewhere. So we made a bee-line right for the machines. (We had spent a better part of a week explaining why we didn’t think it was a good idea) He knew exactly which one he wanted. It advertised little tiny men (go figure…his favorite). But this is what he got…..
Do you, my friends, know what that is?
Tha, my dear readers would be a hair extension….for a DOLL!
What ensued next was not pleasant to say the least. I handed it to ladybug and he began to bawl. Tears of lament.
Did we give him another two quarters to “try again”? Nope that wasn’t going to happen. God had just handed us the perfect teaching moment. We got to teach not one, not two, but all four kiddos about gambling. There was no guarantee he was going to get what he wanted. And in this world we live in all those 50¢ adds up pretty quick. He sobbed the entire time we were at the store! He lamented the loss of his hard earned money. (That was his biggest concern ” BUT I WORKED SO HARD”)
Did people stare? Of course (people are rude like that)
Did some people think he was spoiled? Probably (some people are just that arrogant)
Did some people think we were being mean or just too hard on him? More than likely ( but those people didn’t watch him EARN the money back when we got home)
He learned a lesson, (unfortunately the hard way). But now since then he is fast approaching the $5 dollar mark. He is working towards a pull string Woody (from Toy Story). He’s been asking for him (and Jessie) for over a year now. They went on clearance a few weeks ago and we scooped them up for his upcoming birthday.
A few days after the GUMBALL machine fiasco he came to hubby and asked if he could save towards the Woody (which he has no clue sits a whopping 5 feet from his bedroom door). We said yes. Some days he is more diligent than others, but he is working towards a great reward one quarter at a time. He learned a valuable lesson. He grew as a person. He learned the value of working hard and then loosing it on a silly piece of hair. Yep it was painful.
For him. AND for us ( I hated watching his little heart break). But it was all worth it. Because now he understands that we shouldn’t waste the money God has blessed us with on things that are a gamble!
