So this has been going on for a while now and so I no longer think it's a one off. So I thought I'd post about it. Like all good stories I'll start at the beginning.
I'd recently been telling Edison about recycling and how we should do it to help the environment and what could go in our recycle bin and what items were trash. Because putting the recycling into the recycle bin was one of his few "chores" as i'm not worried about him hurting himself doing this vs maybe drying glass dishes. So he was getting a bit of an education about this subject every day.
As part of my weight loss program I started walking every morning to the supermarket or green grocers for our morning fruit. The walk is long and about half way from our house there is a bottle depot.
On our second day walking to the supermarket a car drove past us and the filthy driver threw a PET bottle our the window. Disgusted Edison went and picked it up straight away and went to put the bottle in a near by recycling bin. I stopped him and said "hang on, you can get some money for that!" he was confused but put the bottle in our backpack for the way home.
We got our fruit and on our way back- the bottle depot opened it's gates. And I told him "in there, take the bottle to the man." and we walked the driveway and arrived at the warehouse. Timidly Edison held up the bottle and the older man smiled and showed him where the bottle would be put- with lots of other bottles! and also other bins with milk cartons and glass bottles and aluminum cans and then lastly he took Edison to the check out and gave him 10 cents for his bottle. "some money for recycling your bottle" the man said to Edison.
He beamed and ran back to me (I waited at the door watching I didn't want to cramp his style) and told me "I got money just like daddy, I have a job!" after that day he was slightly obsessive, picking up bottles and cans wherever he saw one. the first week he was desperate to immediately cash anything he found and we did- 10 cents felt like a fortune to my dear 3.5 year old.
We started taking a bag with us on our walks. Edison found those bottles and cans like he was some kind of bottle finding truffle hound. We started going to the depot just once a week and now he was pulling anywhere from $3:00-$8:00 a week.
He takes his "job" so very seriously and it's so cute to see him march up to the attendant with his bag full of bottles. He takes pride in watching and helping them count his findings and he keeps his earnings in a little glass jar and when it's full we take it to get exchanged into notes at the bank.
Some people may disagree with my letting my toddler earn money this way but come no.. how will teaching him that he is worth being paid for the work he does, fostering a work ethic into my son possibly harm him? And how many people can say that they've worked since they were 3 years old doing a job they enjoy? Not many I bet.
No comments:
Post a Comment