Member-only story
Let them labor
My son is a gamer. The anticipated release of the Playstation 5 became his mission to acquire. He needed to earn money. I had yard work that needed to be done. We made a deal. He would trade time for money and work towards earning enough to buy the new device.
He started out strong. He worked 3 to 4 hours a day raking leaves, picking up acorns and pitching in on other yard maintenance activities. His goal was to earn enough before the release date.
Two weeks prior to the release he realized that he wasn’t going to make it. His work effort waned. He went from daily time in the yard to every other day, spending fewer hours working.
Make Hay While on Layaway?
My wife and I encouraged him to keep at it. We wanted him to learn the value of working for what you want. Knowing the demand for the Playstation 5, we had decided to attempt to purchase it on release day without him knowing and then reserve it for when he had completed the work. It was our parental form of layaway. We were lucky enough to succeed in securing the game system.
We couldn’t keep it to ourselves and let him know that we got it, but he needed to continue to work to pay for it. After all, it wouldn’t arrive for another two weeks.
His work effort waned even more.
