Rich Boy Poor Boy: the saga continues
by HarveyOK. I’m exulting. We just had a fantastic time visiting Canada’s Wonderland, a huge amusement park near Toronto, with our 9 and 11 year olds.
You may recall Poor Boy - he’s still poor and rebelling. But his 9 year old brother is comparatively rich (he takes after our 13 year old).
When we went to the park, they understood that Mum ‘n Dad cover the cost of park entrance (includes rides) and lunch. But if they want to play arcade games, it’s on their dime and they’d have to write a check from their Active Allowance account as soon as they got home.
Well, Rich Boy chose to spend $5.00 throwing 2 basketballs….missing of course. But there wasn’t a peep nor a nay from Mum ‘n Dad. Not even when he spent another $4.00 trying to ring the bell with a sledgehammer. It was his money to spend (full disclosure - I REALLY had to bite my lip. What a colossal waste!!).
And not a peep from Poor Boy. He looked longingly at the basketballs…currently his 2nd favorite sport. But he knew he had no money, so he couldn’t play - he could only step back and watch. So sad…..but what a great teaching moment. Another step on the path to his understanding that earnings and savings might actually have some merit.
We spent over 6 hours at the park and didn’t hear one “gimme”.
As Hannibal Smith used to say on the A-Team TV show: “I love it when a plan comes together” 
PS. Rich Boy was later heard to said to his brother on the way home “those games were a big waste of money”. And I don’t think he was just trying to make his brother feel better. Both kids learned something today!