Turn, turn, turn
posted in OmegaDad, OmegaDotter, OmegaMom, Parenting |
This is Ling, from Karito Kids. Ling is very expensive, like the American Girls dolls.
OmegaDad spotted her first, at the local fancy toy store (very Waldorf-y place…lots of wooden toys, silky dress-up, fabric dolls, that kind of thing). So he showed her to the dotter, who swooned with delight: “She could be my little sister!” Then came the catch: No, we wouldn’t buy it for her. She had to buy it, with her very own money.
Then we hammered out the list of possible ways to make money: Sweep and Swiffer the living room and kitchen twice a week. Unload the laundry chute and sort clothes. Put clothes away after Mommy was done washing and folding them. Brush the dawg. Vacuum the downstairs. Clean the cat box every night.
Then she came up with her very own idea.
OmegaDad, you see, has this…problem…with using his turn signal. In other words, he often forgets. The dotter has noticed this, and is a regular little back-seat driver about it. (She also gives me approval, because I don’t forget the turn signal. Ah, little victories!)
So one or the other of them proposed a deal: If she caught him not using his turn signal while driving, he would give her…
…A DOLLAR!!!…PER WHACK!!!
Um. Now, if I had been consulted before this little dealio went down, I would have put my foot down, and proposed a quarter per offense. However, the first I heard of it was after the deal was pinkie sealed.
The girl is destined to be a wheeler-dealer scam artist, fer shur. Because she made sure that daddy would pick her up from summer camp almost every day–and this was a source of $2, $3, or more per drive! (I told you he had a problem with turn signals!)
Every night, she and OmegaDad would count up the dollars in her Mason jar. Finally, on Friday night, she came bouncing down to the office, where I was watching a YouTube of the Chinese Brittney Spears, Jolin Tsai, shouting out, “How can I make three dollars and fifty cents before tomorrow?!” See, that brass ring was in sight. She wanted Ling so much she ached. She had already created a bed for Ling in her bedroom. She had set up her pseudo-computer (gift from Grandma Jeannie) so that Ling could sit in front of it. She had pulled out her biggest horse, ready for Ling to ride. And all she needed now was $3.50.
So she spent Friday evening in a frenzy–she swept, she Swiffered, she vacuumed, she cleaned the cat box. She got her extra money.
Saturday morning, she grabbed her Mason jar of money:
…and we drove off to the swanky toy store, where she got this huge bag:
And mommy spent half-an-hour releasing Ling from durance vile (aka the packaging). Lemme tell you, this doll is pretty cool. Her head tilts and bends. Her arms and legs have ball-and-socket type joints, so you can move them in more natural style than other big dolls. And, like the American Girls dolls, she comes with a book:
At which point, poor OmegaDotter had to schlep off to her previously arranged sleep-over with A., her best bud from school. OmegaDad and I were instructed to make sure Ling got to bed–in OmegaDotter’s bed, since she wouldn’t be there–and get her up and put her in front of her computer.
I, in the meanwhile, am hoping that we can get more chore-work out of the dotter without major whining–it’s been nice to have her so motivated! There are plenty of accessories for Ling, so we’ll probably be able to get the dotter into the habit of doing chores for weekly allowance.
