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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Little Boy Makes Money

Little Boy and 2 friends talked about the size of their bank accounts over recess. Little Boy realised that he is rather on the poor side compared to his friends. He decided to put a wrong situation right. In the car, he initiated a discussion that went somewhere... except that his very naive mother didn't know where until now when it is too late.

I rather think that I've been very properly had by my wily (but sotong looking) son who plays his cards without revealing his next move.

"Mom," he says, "I have a friend whose father puts $100/= in his bank account every month... and another friend whose father doesn't. The oddest thing is that the one who DOES NOT get $100/= a month, has a much bigger bank account than the one who does. I wonder why."

Cluelessly chatting away, I proffered a series of possibilities, the best of which was "He must have very rich relatives which give very big ang pows?" And to all my suggestions, Little Boy said

"Hmmm... yeah..."
"True... possible..."
"Yeah... could be..."

As we neared home, he gave up on his thick-headed mother and exclaimed, as if the thought had suddenly occurred to him "Aha! I know why! It's because the boy with more money gets to earn money by doing chores! His mom gives him 50c for sweeping the floor, 50c for washing the dishes and up to $6 if he cooks."

My car pulls into the lot and I switch off the engine. "Oh... do you want to sweep the floor for me? And what can you cook?"

And we spend the next 10 minutes going through the list of Money Earning Boy's chores and payments. And then Little Boy gets impatient with his mentally slow mother, but betrays none of that in what he says "Ummm... Mom, maybe I don't have to do what he does? Maybe I can do what is suitable for me and you?"

And so it is that Little Boy feeds Milo for 20c each time and washes the dinner dishes for 70c. Nonetheless, he found that wealth accumulation this way was rather slow. And last night, we discussed another idea.

With $10/= that he has earned from household chores, he will buy a hydroponics kit. He will then plant rocket salad leaves in those kits and his rich but somewhat-of-a-sucker mother will buy the whole harvest off him for $12/=. This way, he makes $2/= with the first harvest and $12/= with each subsequent harvest.

I fear that very soon, he is going to tell me that he quits his job as the official Milo Feeder and Dinner Dish Washer because it pays too little. We'll see.

10 comments:

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.......and i look forward to more Money Making Adventures of Little Boy too! HILARIOUS!

Petunia Lee said...

Heh! Heh! I had somewhat mixed emotions when it happened. On the one hand, I was rather pleased at how enterprising he is. On the other hand, I hadn't suspected my son to have this degree of "strategic chess play".

I shall have to be more alert next time. Or get the woolies pulled over my eyes again...

Blur Ting said...

He's a smart one! I remember how he was selling caterpillars to his classmates at one time :-)

Rummi, the gardener. said...

Boy may have a hydroponic box, but he need to buy WATER from The Father and SEEDS from The Mother.

Lesson 1 on logistic ;)

Petunia Lee said...

Ummm... yes Rummi. Quite right. The Father pointed that out when Little Boy presented the idea. That's why the original price of $15/= per harvest went down to $12/= per harvest.

Unlike the-somewhat-sucker-of-a-mother, The Father approaches money decisions with little sentimentality... and a good head for numbers. He's all business.

Petunia Lee said...

Ting - Yup! That caterpillar story! The Teacher commented that Little Boy was one of the memorable things about that year. Some people just enjoy making money... over and above making a living.

termite said...

Hey GONG HEI FATT CHOY! :)
little boy is very down to earth. at least he does not put out his hand and just ask for an increase in his allowance! what a sensible and hardworking child to want to earn his own money.

Petunia Lee said...

Termie - Actually, now that you mention it, it is a good thing isn't it? The Father and I debated whether it was an Asian thing to do to pay him to do chores. After all, we are family. In the end, The Father gave in to the sucker of a Mother... who is now very pleased with her decision indeed.

Petunia Lee said...

And oh! Gong hei fatt choy to you all too!!

termite said...

Pet it is a good thing. In time he will also learn the value of money. hehe good to see that u are please with your decision :)