What's the deal with my kids and money? Other kids money. The first time Joey brought home another kid's dollar, he tried to hide it from me. Obviously not very well. When I asked him what he'd just stuffed in his pocket, he lied to me about it. When I found it, he said one of the kids at daycare gave it to me.
Why?
I don't know.
I was stumped about what I thought about this. But I knew he couldn't keep it because he'd lied to me about it. I told him I would bring it to daycare the next day and we'd return it to her. And we did. When I handed it to him and told him to return it, she came over and took it back without any expression. I wonder why she gave him a dollar.
Then, a few weeks ago, Joey was having one of his temper tantrums and took all of his allowance money and put it in his pocket. I didn't force him to put it back. I looked for it in his room, just to see if I could figure out his hiding place. Had I found it, I would have left it alone. He needs to trust that I won't take his money, even if I'd be putting it back in his own money envelope. But I didn't find it. About a week later, during a therapy session, he mentioned having given all of his money to his friends. I was really surprised. I asked if he had given it away because he thought I would take it away if he kept it. He said yes. I told him again that I will not take away the money he's already earned. Not for misbehaving. Not to pay restitution for destroyed property. Okay, so here's an example of a kid giving another kid money. I wonder what those kids told their parents.
The next mystery was when Josh came home yesterday with a five dollar bill in his pocket. He pulled it out and told me about it right away. I asked him who gave it to him and he said Lawrence.
Why?
I don't know.
Joey pipes up and announces that I have to let him keep it because he didn't lie about it and try to hide it from me. I don't know what to do about it. I explained to both of them that I'm concerned because bullies get money from other kids through unkind means and that I don't understand why kids keep giving them money. They reiterated that they don't know why the kids give them money, but they aren't bullying anyone or forcing them to.
Huh. Any ideas what I should do?
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Wow! This is really tough. However, I instantly had a thought. Maybe you could take them to the bible on this and show them the verse about earning a living by the sweat of your brow (Gen. 3:19). I think the same goes for gambling, bullying, stealing, etc. The money we earn should be EARNED and you could even go to the verse about working hard in all you do to honor God. So, we should work for our money, and honor God in that work. Then you could talk to them about how they shouldn't take money from their friends unless they are serving/working for them in some way. Not sure this helps but that was the first verse that popped into my mind as I was reading your post.
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