Restitution

Today we get a life lesson. Tamarin comes into my room. She tells me she needs to put Shaggy out and show me something. She puts her dog outside and brings me this:

Yeah, I'd say that's something. This was what Howler got from Santa for Christmas (only because it was a lightening deal the day after I had Capuchin :p It was cyber Monday you know :) ). He's been chewing up lots of small toys being left out. A small doll here, a wood block there and any diaper that's doesn't immediately make it into the trashcan (or any cloth diaper even if it's IN the laundry basket). I've been telling her everything needs to be picked up and she has to keep an eye on her dog ALL the time (especially since the disposable diapers could kill him). I've told her it usually takes a couple of years for puppies to grow out of chewing up things and this is part of having a dog. In fact I've repeated this more times than I care to admit.

Last weekend the neighbor kids came over again which led to us explaining how things her dog does could get US in trouble. He is very protective of Tamarin and he bit one of the boy's pant's legs (To what extent I do not know, this is just what Tamarin told me. I suspect he was just chasing him like he does with the girls and the boy didn't like it.). Tamarin brought him in, but was careless about keeping him in. Every time she came in and out of the house so did he. I pulled her aside and explained to her that IF he were to hurt one of those kids she could not only lose her dog, but our house and everything we own. She kept him in after that. Today we got a hands on lesson.

This is Tamarin's stash of tooth fairy money and change from us and grandparents. A grand total of $20.54, a yen, a pound and a peso. I had her sit down with me and we looked on amazon and ebay for a replacement. We found one on ebay that she may be able to afford if it doesn't get bid up. I explained to her that if someone decided to pay that person more than $20.54 that we will have to order it from amazon and she will then owe me $3 the next time she gets tooth fairy money.

She isn't too happy about this and it took a lot of discussion. At first she said that Howler should have to replace the udraw herself. Then I turned it on her and asked who should replace her DS if sister were to throw it on the ground (which happens) and it broke? It took some time, but eventually she came around and agreed she should replace it.

I pulled out the foam math blocks and we talked about how much different things around the house cost compared to how much she was going to have to pay to replace the udraw tablet. I think we had a dawning moment as we went from item to item and put a visual dollar amount on each thing. We've discussed before how everything in the house costs money, but having a way to visualize this seemed to click with her.

Stupid dog, stupid dog, stupid dog, stupid dog, stupid dog.............

When did your kids learn this lesson? What happened?

Update: The good new is I found it at a second hand shop for $6.45. Tamarin is handling it much better now :)