I've Got a Great Idea
When I was a kid my parents told us(their children) that they wanted us to understand the value of money. So they gave us a weekly allowance. When I was 9 it seemed like so much money. We got almost $2 per week. At 9 that was a lot of money - I turned 50 this year, 41 years ago.... my Mom would send me to the grocery store with a dollar and I would come home with milk and bread and possibly have enough for a Hershey bar.
We had some chores but I don't remember ever feeling like I was working enough to get $2 per week. For all my childhood presumptions this was not one of them. I never felt like my parents owed me an allowance - it always seemed like a great big gift.
Like the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family - there was one kid that was great at saving money, Lisa, and one that was not so good, Heidi, and one that was somewhere in the middle, Scott(my little brother Paul was too small for allowance ).
Anyway, my older brother and I have always had a bit of a confusing relationship. I think the easiest way to explain it is - he was first and in my eyes perfect and well....I was very good at being the middle child. I could make just about anything be about me and make it very clear that no one could possibly understand how hard it was to be me...ever... harumph!...Scott paid little attention to the ups and downs but he seemed to find the Heidi in me in the most unexpected places. Like one of my favorite birthday presents came from him - it was a music box. It was a black plastic box. On the top was a circle that had a shimmery gel/sand layered with multiple mod colors. The colors would change as a tiny blip would move around the liquid on the top. For the life of me I can't remember the song it played...it was kind of like a Star Trek music box - and oh I loved the Star Trek.
He also gave me sheet music for Christmas one year. It was from Barry Manilow's original hit - "Could it be Magic?" My first official Chopin - not my first dramatic piece but my first lay into the keys and hear a good full rich deep series of chords moody and moving, moving in a way that was new that made it a puzzle to voice my fingers - where was the melody, how much was melody... oh, music with choices...I don't know that Scott knew that was what it was for me. It wasn't embarrassing yet to like Barry back then. Now I am a bit reticent to admit I loved the guy's music. And for the record Scott also shared good jazz with me which led me to listen to Maynard Ferguson, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea and eventually find the old original jazz greats - the earth and salt of New Orleans jazz, the grittiness of Kansas City jazz and intellectual New York City Harlem jazz. He also introduced me to Windham Hill and minimalism- he might be glad or not so glad that I am sharing this with you all - who knows.
Now as siblings are able to do - Scott could bring out the best in me and he also knew exactly how to get my goat. I remember one year the kids got a game called Payday for our Christmas present. We all sat around in my grand parents house playing the game in the dining room away from the adults and the endless talk. With all the patience of a big brother he worked through the rules with Lisa and I. We played the game and he won. We all agreed it was a good game. At the end of the game Scott asked for the rules and added a rule in blue ball point ink: "the losers will pick up the game after the winner throws it around the room." Then he picked up the game board and splayed the game pieces and money around the room. As any middle child would do, I of course considered myself 'had' and pouted while I picked up the game and told my little sister we had no choice. What?!
So the year of the allowances - and the great idea - Scott was 11, I was 9 and Lisa was 7. It was heading towards Christmas. Scott called and facilitated a siblings meeting to discuss what to do for our parents for Christmas. We met in Scott's room - he sat on the bunk bed, I sat on the floor and Lisa on the bean bag chair. Paul moved about the room like any small toddler would do but we were sure to include him. Scott had an idea - he had seen a punch bowl down at the hardware store. He thought Mom would really like it. Then we went around the room and figured out how much money we had amongst the three of us and how many allowances we had left. Someone might have to pay more at first to make up for someone's lack of savings - ahem - It was the beginning of his financial planning career I am sure of it. Somehow we managed to save enough to get that punch bowl. I Anyway we were so excited and proud to have planned to purchase and give Mom that present. I still remember Scott taking the money and telling us under his breath that he was going to get the punch bowl. Such a secret group we were. How responsible he was to collect the money and walk down to the store on his own and purchase that punch bowl. My Mom still has the punch bowl it has been used for many family and social events - you have to admit it is kind of a Brady Bunch story except no one broke anything. It is really hard to explain how fun it was to do something together, to plan and give something to your Mom for Christmas that you could not do unless all of you worked together. Thank goodness they had the foresight to have enough of us to get that punch bowl!
What a very good idea!
Recently I had a really great idea for Kristin's office. Everyday after we empty the cat food cans into the cat food dishes each dog gets one can to clean out. Something about canned cat food that brings out the predator in every animal in our house. Those cleaned cans seem to gather in Kristin's office and well, looks a bit trashy. My great idea was to open a paper bag and collect the cans. Then leave the bag out to make it easy for Kristin to keep her office 'picked' up. She liked it - and said thanks!
A couple of nights ago Gromit had a great idea - he waited until we were asleep and started rustling those cans out of the bag. In the morning they were strewn across Kristin's office floor again. I picked them up and put them back in the bag.
The next night Gromit had a better idea - this time he got the cans out and STACKED them on the floor in Kristin's office. Not one stack but a couple of them.
Finally I thought - this is not Payday, I don't have to pick up after the winner throws the pieces all around the room. It is so hard to be a middle child and so much fun to be a Gromit!!
We had some chores but I don't remember ever feeling like I was working enough to get $2 per week. For all my childhood presumptions this was not one of them. I never felt like my parents owed me an allowance - it always seemed like a great big gift.
Like the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family - there was one kid that was great at saving money, Lisa, and one that was not so good, Heidi, and one that was somewhere in the middle, Scott(my little brother Paul was too small for allowance ).
Anyway, my older brother and I have always had a bit of a confusing relationship. I think the easiest way to explain it is - he was first and in my eyes perfect and well....I was very good at being the middle child. I could make just about anything be about me and make it very clear that no one could possibly understand how hard it was to be me...ever... harumph!...Scott paid little attention to the ups and downs but he seemed to find the Heidi in me in the most unexpected places. Like one of my favorite birthday presents came from him - it was a music box. It was a black plastic box. On the top was a circle that had a shimmery gel/sand layered with multiple mod colors. The colors would change as a tiny blip would move around the liquid on the top. For the life of me I can't remember the song it played...it was kind of like a Star Trek music box - and oh I loved the Star Trek.
He also gave me sheet music for Christmas one year. It was from Barry Manilow's original hit - "Could it be Magic?" My first official Chopin - not my first dramatic piece but my first lay into the keys and hear a good full rich deep series of chords moody and moving, moving in a way that was new that made it a puzzle to voice my fingers - where was the melody, how much was melody... oh, music with choices...I don't know that Scott knew that was what it was for me. It wasn't embarrassing yet to like Barry back then. Now I am a bit reticent to admit I loved the guy's music. And for the record Scott also shared good jazz with me which led me to listen to Maynard Ferguson, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea and eventually find the old original jazz greats - the earth and salt of New Orleans jazz, the grittiness of Kansas City jazz and intellectual New York City Harlem jazz. He also introduced me to Windham Hill and minimalism- he might be glad or not so glad that I am sharing this with you all - who knows.
Now as siblings are able to do - Scott could bring out the best in me and he also knew exactly how to get my goat. I remember one year the kids got a game called Payday for our Christmas present. We all sat around in my grand parents house playing the game in the dining room away from the adults and the endless talk. With all the patience of a big brother he worked through the rules with Lisa and I. We played the game and he won. We all agreed it was a good game. At the end of the game Scott asked for the rules and added a rule in blue ball point ink: "the losers will pick up the game after the winner throws it around the room." Then he picked up the game board and splayed the game pieces and money around the room. As any middle child would do, I of course considered myself 'had' and pouted while I picked up the game and told my little sister we had no choice. What?!
So the year of the allowances - and the great idea - Scott was 11, I was 9 and Lisa was 7. It was heading towards Christmas. Scott called and facilitated a siblings meeting to discuss what to do for our parents for Christmas. We met in Scott's room - he sat on the bunk bed, I sat on the floor and Lisa on the bean bag chair. Paul moved about the room like any small toddler would do but we were sure to include him. Scott had an idea - he had seen a punch bowl down at the hardware store. He thought Mom would really like it. Then we went around the room and figured out how much money we had amongst the three of us and how many allowances we had left. Someone might have to pay more at first to make up for someone's lack of savings - ahem - It was the beginning of his financial planning career I am sure of it. Somehow we managed to save enough to get that punch bowl. I Anyway we were so excited and proud to have planned to purchase and give Mom that present. I still remember Scott taking the money and telling us under his breath that he was going to get the punch bowl. Such a secret group we were. How responsible he was to collect the money and walk down to the store on his own and purchase that punch bowl. My Mom still has the punch bowl it has been used for many family and social events - you have to admit it is kind of a Brady Bunch story except no one broke anything. It is really hard to explain how fun it was to do something together, to plan and give something to your Mom for Christmas that you could not do unless all of you worked together. Thank goodness they had the foresight to have enough of us to get that punch bowl!
What a very good idea!
Recently I had a really great idea for Kristin's office. Everyday after we empty the cat food cans into the cat food dishes each dog gets one can to clean out. Something about canned cat food that brings out the predator in every animal in our house. Those cleaned cans seem to gather in Kristin's office and well, looks a bit trashy. My great idea was to open a paper bag and collect the cans. Then leave the bag out to make it easy for Kristin to keep her office 'picked' up. She liked it - and said thanks!
A couple of nights ago Gromit had a great idea - he waited until we were asleep and started rustling those cans out of the bag. In the morning they were strewn across Kristin's office floor again. I picked them up and put them back in the bag.
The next night Gromit had a better idea - this time he got the cans out and STACKED them on the floor in Kristin's office. Not one stack but a couple of them.
Finally I thought - this is not Payday, I don't have to pick up after the winner throws the pieces all around the room. It is so hard to be a middle child and so much fun to be a Gromit!!
Sylvia,
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