Earning $$$

Adam has been diligently saving his allowance for weeks to purchase a $40 video game. He was hoping he would have it all saved by this weekend, just in time for Spring Break. Sunday evening he was counting his money, calculating if he would have enough and realized he would be short $5 this weekend and would have to save another week. This is what he did not want because he wouldn't have it to play over Spring Break. So, he asked me for $5. I said no. But, perhaps he could do some extra chores to earn the money. I told him to think of some possible chores and we would discuss it. Later he asked if he watched and played with Gavin every day after school, if that would be a good chore to earn some money. I thought about it and said, 'How about you play with Gavin for 30 minutes each afternoon while I am preparing dinner?" I'll give you a dollar a day for doing that. He agreed. Yesterday, he realized that it might not be so easy. Simply because Gavin is usually quite clingy around that time. Adam tried all sorts of things and finally found a toy that distracted Gavin while I fixed dinner. Adam is definitely going to earn his money. I was pretty pleased that Adam thought of this idea to play with Gavin. Typically, he is quite self-absorbed and doesn't get out of his own head to recognize the needs and wants of others. So, I was glad that he was putting someone else first. And since he's quite motivated to earn this money, I think he'll stick it out all week.