Responsibility is Hard

Nathan and Kade both asked Santa for a Nintendo DS for Christmas. Santa informed them they would not be getting one because their mom and dad wanted them to save the money to get one. It was hard to tell them they wouldn't get the only thing they asked for, but it is important to me that they learn how to delay gratification, work hard for what they want, and see how every little bit saved adds up.

A DS costs $129. Nathan and Kade must save up half. Their jobs pay anywhere from 0.25 to $1.00, so it obviously will take quite a while. They were given some money from Santa and Grandma, so that helped a lot.

Finally, last weekend, Nathan was short $3 from the necessary $65. We bartered, bargained, and parlayed, and came up with a great compromise. He gets the rest of the money for shoveling the rest of the driveway.

We went to get the DS. Brought it home. Nathan shoveled. And shoveled. And shoveled. It was cold and dark outside and still he shoveled.

Finally...it was done. Finally, the DS was officially his. He sat down to play it, but didn't have any games.

Saving up some more.

I tried to get him to trade in his old Game Boy, but he wanted to save it for Kade to play while Kade was saving for his DS (he's about $20 short now). Very sweet.

Except on Friday night Nathan got out his Game Boy for a little reunion...The LCD screen was broken.

Nathan was heartbroken. Kade began to cry and apologized profusely. There was this game he was playing...it was really hard...it was really frustrating...and he banged his head against the screen. Broken. Broken. Crying all around.

Kade owned up. I was so proud, but so sad. He would have to make it better. To replace it would cost around $35, and take a huge chunk out of his own saved money.

The compromise was that Kade would buy Nathan a game for his DS instead. We took his money to the store, Nathan picked out his game, and Kade bought it (with some help from mom). He has learned a hard lesson. It is was very hard for me to let him learn it, but I really admire his willingness to take responsibility. I am not sure I could have done the same.
So proud. So hard.