Ok, Luke had been bugging and bugging and bugging us for a Tamagotchi since Christmas. He finally got one in April and was "bored" with it within a month. :rollseyes: Last week he was saying how his friend in his class at school wants a Tamagotchi and Luke told us he was gonna give it to his friend. We adamantly said NO. We paid 20 some odd bucks into it, he was NOT to give it away. The other day he'd been looking frantically around for it...he'd lost it for a couple days. Ok, he found it and came clean TODAY that he gave it to his friend at school earlier this week! :wall: We've told him that he is definitely not getting ANY toy for a long time. Now what should we do?

I think we should have it back from the boy and put it away from Luke until his lesson's been learned. Abe and the boys are also camping this weekend with this boy and his father....so, chances are it might be brought up there...

Should we get it back or let the boy keep it? :dunno:


Yeah, first time for this kind of thing! :rollseyes: :doh:

I would let his friend keep it.....why should Luke get it back when you told him specifically NOT to give it away? :dunno:

But I'd let his friend keep it AND tell Luke that the next time he's so desperate to want a special toy like that one, he's gotta earn the money to buy it himself. Maybe then he won't be so quick to give it away.....

I know, I know....I'm a hard-a$$.... B)

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Luke is a good bro.....

You spent $20 on a Tamagotchi? I got one at Walgreen's a few years back for $2. No, it wasn't mismarked. Thing died within a week, though... :bored: Tamagotchis are really neat - for the first couple of hours. Then they get tedious. You have to play with it all the time. My dog and cat aren't as demanding as a Tamagotchi!

I understand how you feel. Nichole wants to do crap like that all the time. Drives us nuts. And then, when we're going through the toys they've outgrown, she gets mad when we want to give her toys away.

What would I do?

• Well - is this the first time he's done something like this? He'd be in trouble for disobeying. I don't know if I'd withhold toys for a long time for a first offense. He has no idea of the concept of money.
• Is this a repeat offense? :box:

But I think Squat has a good point:

Luke sounds like a very generous boy. You don't want to kill that. I've seen Nichole share her lunch with a kid at YMCA that didn't have one. That's a generosity I want to nurture.

I'd let his friend keep it.

Maybe you can have Luke do some chores to "earn" the $20-something he gave away? Help him to understand the value.

Also, when we got tired of Sarah asking for toys every week we started giving her allowance. It's not chore based. Chores have to be done no matter what (bet we're harder a$$es than you Debby!). She has to tithe on it, save for long term, and save for short term items she wants. How old is Luke? We started this with Sarah when she turned 6.

It also drives us crazy when Sarah HAS to have something and then doesn't want it anymore. So now we make much slower decisions. For instance, she wants an American Girl doll. Well, at $120 she better REALLY want it. We told her that she needed to prove she was responsible enough to have it over time. And that she truly did want it. So when she leaves a toy outside over night we remind her that this is irresponsible and we talk about the doll again. We might wait until the end of the year and take her to NYC to the American Girl Doll store and let her pick out a doll for Christmas. But by then she'll be almost 8 and HOPEFULLY more responsible.

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What he said.... :fart:

Yeah, Luke is WAY too generous. Now his so-called "friend" wants him to bring more toys to school! :smack: Lil brat. So now we've put up the "mommy scanner" through his backpack on his way out the door. No more toys at school! :rollseyes: This is the first time he's ever done this.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll talk to Abe about them and we'll decide from there. :)

Lynn....sounds like we're BOTH hard a$$es!! B)

That's exactly how we view chores & allowances. I do work around the house but don't get paid for it, Ty the same....working around the house is part of being a family.

When she's a little older, she'll get a set amount. If she wants to earn extra, she can do EXTRA chores around the house (not her normal ones)....or help out at my FIL's workplace, something like that.

It's important to teach the kids the value of money early on....figuring out HOW to do it is another story.... :rollseyes:

Sarah earns money at Nana's house by shredding paper/bills for her. Now Sean wants part of the action!

Heh, Luke asked his friend for the Tamagotchi back and the friend gave it back without hesitation. "His mom is gonna get him one anyway." :doh: Whatever!

Aren't kids great!