Madsen often explains to us why it is that he cannot do a lot of chores around the house. Um, hello...? It's cuz he's real busy. He has lots of homework and he plays high school sports -- not like the rest of us slackers who do nothing at all -- except run a company (K) and raise a family (me), for example. Plus, he's got a social life. How on earth is he supposed to fit in extra chores?!
A few months ago he decided that "his" (it's not his) truck needed "subs" to make it truly cool. (dude, my family had a brown mini-van -- with paneling -- when i was your age! just sayin'... count your blessings!) For those of you that are not hip to the cool lingo: subs = subwoofers; they make your super-cool tunes, well, super-cool-er.
Can you believe that we told him that HE would have to come up with some dollars for the subs? We are the lamest parents ever. But what is even more unbelievable than our lameness is that -- what do you know? -- the kid can really work. I took advantage of his subwoofer dream and got so many things done around here. Yardwork, clean-up, errands, etc.
The high-point: Madsen hired his brothers one day and got the leaves raked, swept and bagged in record time. I think he paid them a dollar and somehow convinced them it was an awesome deal. He's a modern-day Tom Sawyer.
The low-point (which was actually the high-point for me): I made him wear a face mask in public while he scraped and sanded the fence in front of our house. I couldn't have him inhaling old paint and metal dust, right? He was so bugged -- how was he supposed to look cool when people drove by if he was wearing a mask? I sat in the house and laughed my head off -- and took pictures. I got my fence repainted (it looks great now) AND Madsen, desperate for money, had no choice but to comply with my (crazy, ridiculous) demands.
In the end, it took awhile, but Mads earned the money. Now I can hear him -- and his awesome subs -- coming long before he gets to the house. He learned the importance of working for what he wants and of doing a good job. He also learned that, if you research and shop around, you can save a lot of money on car audio parts (which is especially important when it's your money--not mom and dad's). And he discovered that subwoofers sound even better when you've earned the money to buy them yourself. As for me, I got lots of big jobs done around the house and the yard for a pretty good price... and I saw that my son can be a great worker, without complaining (except for that mask).
Best money I ever spent.
ps- please forgive me as i try to catch up with some of our happenings from the fall. i'm afraid i've become a bit of a slacker (maybe madsen's right) when it comes to my blog.