Teaching the Lessons of Life

It has been difficult to take on the job of teaching Kyndal the valuable lesson of working for your privileges.

Several months before her own 16th birthday she attended a birthday dinner for one of her friends where she was presented with a car. It wasn't a new car, but it was a new car to her. Since then she has watched friend after friend turn 16 and receive cars. One of her friends even got a 2011 Camaro! (Ridiculous!) Her best friend will be getting her mom's Lexus SUV. Her boyfriend will be getting a pretty darned new Ford pickup.

I felt strongly, early on, that it was important for Kyndal to work for the privilege of having her own car. We told her two years ago that we would match dollar-for-dollar any money she could save towards a car. When she turned 16 she didn't have any money. And she didn't get that surprise car. And it was so difficult for her. In fact, I even made the decision that she would not be able to get her license (she has her permit) until she had secured a job.

I remember my friends growing up, who got cars given to them, wrecked them without a second thought and got those cars replaced with different cars. One of Kyndal's friends in our neighborhood did the same thing about a month after he got his license. I had to work yucky, miserable jobs to get the money for my car, and the paint job, and the new tires. It wasn't fun. But, I took care of my car and appreciated it because I had worked for it!

Well Kyndal finally took the initiative and got a job. She worked her first shift at Sonic two nights ago, worked again last night and works tonight and tomorrow night. This week she will make about $140. That's 6 months worth of insurance in just one week. At that rate she will be able to save enough money to get a really nice car by the end of the summer.

And it will be hers! All hers!

How do we plan to handle insurance and gas? She has to pay for them both. Her insurance right now is cheap, but once she gets her own car it will be higher. And for gas until she gets her own car? I figure it costs between $2 and $3 for her to drive to town and back. So I plan to have a jar where she puts in an index card each time she drives one of our vehicles to town, for work or otherwise, and at the end of the week she will pay us for her gas.

Driving places costs money. And we are all getting ready to feel the true affects of that soon. I want her to weigh the pros and cons of making a trip somewhere based on how it affects her pocketbook. Because if it doesn't affect her pocketbook, it won't affect her.

These are such hard lessons. But, she will know the value of a dollar earned (and how quickly it goes away.) She has many, many friends that will have no idea what that means and will suffer because of it. Sadly mommy and daddy will probably always bail them out.

She might not be thanking me now. But what gets me through is knowing that someday she will.

And on a side note ... she looked so stinkin' cute in her Sonic uniform! I couldn't get over it! She should apply to be the Sonic poster girl. She is so all-American adorable! **Smile** !!!!