Cheering and Parenting

 Kennon ran in her first home cross country meet of the season. Here she is running with the pack just after the start. They hold the race at a local farm so they run through the woods,  up big hills, around ponds,  through rows of apples trees, and sometimes swarms of bees.

And here she comes. I know I have said this before but I love seeing my daughter race across the finish line.  I even jumped up out of my chair and cheered. She placed 13th overall. She also was voted to be team captain this season. Go, Go Kennon. 


Notice the new blue shoes. After so many miles, this is Kennon's first time racing in new shoes. In the past she wore whatever Mom picked up 2nd hand in her size. But she had outgrown her 8's and refused to take over my 9's that have been gathering dust the last few months on my shelf.  She was determined to have a new pair that she could put her own miles on. It made sense. She runs about 10 miles each week. 


Well, all the kids needed sports equipment this year. So we decided to hand out $50 dollars each and let them run with it.  Savannah bought her a hockey stick and goggles on ebay for about a 1/4 of the cost, socks and shin gaurds at Wallmart, and picked up a pair of cleats her size at the town swap shop, pink shoelaces not included. She came in right at $50.  


We figured if Savannah could get all that Kennon should have no problem with one pair of shoes. So I took Kennon shopping and pointed out a nice pair for $35, which would mean $15 in her pocket- No sales tax here, folks. 


But she was convinced that a pair for $70 was far superior in performance. Or at least style. So she made up the difference and got her new blue shoes. Not without some completely pointless arguing at the checkout that we were making life way too hard for her. But I think for a girl who had many opportunities to work all summer a $50 handout was plenty generous. 


Of course I am not including these details to embarrass my children. I just think that they will be interesting stuff to look back on. 


With Mom down this summer, there was much to do. And we were willing to pay them for most of it. Everything but daily dish chores were up for grabs. And of course there was also the dental office that now needed a cleaning crew and grounds keeper since that employee was on bed rest.


Some Saturdays some children were not willing to go. They didn't mind the cleaning so much. They just couldn't handle the inspections by Mom that always followed. So they stayed home and another child made the money that weekend. But declarations like, "This is the last time I am ever coming to the office!" didn't stick and everyone took a turn. 


By the end of the summer due to the many financial opportunities provided for them it was determined that they would all be buying all their own clothing. There was plenty of complaining during school shopping (Mom on wheels accompanying them)  but we made it through. The kids made some excellent choices within their budget. They always are so much smarter when the credit card won't be footing the bill. Suddenly they don't need one more T-shirt after all. I sometimes felt bad and wanted to just spoil them, but then remembered if I caved I would be taking away their work incentives and I knew that I couldn't do that. Not if I wanted my lawn mowed once a week. 

 
So far the younger two have remained mostly immune to the realities of the hard knock life of Team Casper. They still think that a trip to the swap shop is far superior than a trip to the mall so for now Caroline just makes a dollar an hour and then drives us insane until it is spent. We'll deal with them later and maybe we will have it figured out better by that time.