Earning A Living

Sometimes, Palmer misunderstands the concept of "work" and thinks of it only as a bad thing where his parents are away from the house.  In an attempt to try to teach the concept of earning money, I took Palmer to the toy store and had him pick out anything he wanted.  After careful consideration, he picked out a train named Spencer.

At the toy store, I told Palmer we needed to go home and count the money in his piggy bank to see if we had enough money for Spencer.  After counting, we determined that he needed $7 more in order to make the purchase (yes, Thomas the trains are a real bonafide highway robbery).

So, we told Palmer that he could work jobs in the neighborhood to earn money for Spencer.  Armed with a photo of Spencer, Palmer went door to door on our block asking if anyone had any work he could do around the house.

Palmer blew some leaves and watered some flowers:

I even took him to work with me one day to show him what I do to earn money:

After a couple of weeks and several paying jobs, he finally had enough money to return to the toy store.

Decisions, decisions...

 SPENCER!

Hard-earned money:

Spencer meets his new friends back at home on the tracks:

 Watch out, Palmer.  Little sister wants to play, too.

Congrats on your first hard-earned toy, Palmer.

-Bethany