We aim to teach our children about real life; that their are consequences to our choices… good and bad; and taking responsibility for those actions.
This weekend, my husband and I decided it was time to replace our back door. As most large home projects go, they are rarely as simple as they seem to be. So by the time I got back home with the kids he had already been to the hardware store for extra supplies to make other repairs.
He worked so hard to get it done and we tried to leave him alone. While he continued, the kids drove around in the motorized car…until we heard a crash.
Our daughter had run into the pvc pipe that goes to the well and busted it. I came running from the house to see a geyser and my husband very upset.
My initial words to her were that she was “grounded forever and wasn’t getting license til she was 100!” Ok… a little dramatic and over the top. Lol. She just looked at me like “mom, I have no idea what that means” and then said “I’m sorry.”
How can I argue with sincere apologies? I had to forgive her yet there were still consequences.
In reality I took her car away for a week and she had to pay for the damages. After Andy went to the store and got the parts to fix the pipe he figured out the total — $8.00. When helping her count up the money she had, she was short $4.00. So we came up with a way for her to earn the money…. pick up the pile of sticks.
She got her gloves on and went to work, asking how much of the pile she had to do and we told her. She did more than we asked and we gave her a tiny bit extra for the extra work she put it above what we asked. I paid her the $4.00 she earned and she handed it to Andy for the supplies. Since Isaac also helped he even earned some money too that day.
She learned a valuable lesson 🙂
