A lesson

Teaching my kids valuable life lessons is important to me. Today i had an opportunity.

With Mitch gone and a very sparse TV/DVD week so far, I surprised the boys last night with a rental from Redbox - Busytown, Solving a Mystery with Huckle (something about bubbles). They had time to watch only part of it. They were really good last night but we just ran out of time because they were busy doing all kinds of art projects. This morning, they wanted to finish it and although ready, just couldn't seem to pull away from the art at the kitchen table. The discussion ultimately wrapped up like this -

Me, "You're not going to have enough time to watch the rest of Huckle today.
Max or Graham, "Please."
Me, "I have to take it back today."
Max, "Please can we keep it."
Me, "It costs a dollar to keep it and if you want it, you'll need to pay the dollar."
Max, "Really. The whole dollar."
Me, "Yes. You can't take it out of your banks. It will come from your spending money."
Graham, "I don't want to."
Me, "You can decide. It will be $0.50 each."
Max, "Two quarters?"
Me, "Yes."
Graham, "Does Pierce have to pay?"

I think this is clear but in case not - this was not about the amount of money but the fact that they needed to help pay for it if they wanted it for longer. Both lessons, I believe, were lost given that Pierce was brought into the mix and the boys were just figuring out how to not have to spend money. I learned the lesson - it's already started - it's three against one even when one of the three shouldn't have to or doesn't want to be included. They are brothers and will do things together.

For those who care, we did end up finishing the movie.