May 28, 2005 - Saturday
Harry and Jeremy each made a second purchase today, this time at a yard sale. The boys have been very diligent about earning money by collecting and recycling our returnable cans and this morning they each brought some coins from their piggy banks to a nearby yard sale. As with their first purchase, I pretty much tried to stay out of there way. Harry saw this loving robot and immediately asked if he could buy it. It was actually selling for $2, a dollar more than he had and I suppose we could have (should have?) used that to stop him. But, it seems to me that the math here is rather secondary to the concept of spending money and making one's own decisions.
"It's your money, Harry, so it's up to you."

The crayons are meant to give some perspective on how big this guy is (about 17-inches tall). Not only that, but his eyes, green chest area, his gun, and that thing on his right shoulder all light up as he walks and says inane, macho-machito phrases like "Power Destroyer, you must surrender," and "My mission is to destroy." We had asked the woman at the yard sale if it did those sort of things and she said it just needed batteries with the kind of smile that said "I'm happy to be getting rid of it." She didn't say exactly what it said, but she didn't have to. On the one hand, this sort of thing is the problem with the "it's your money" approach, but on the other hand I think Harry's going to be exposed to this kind of thing at some time or another. I guess we can only hope that maybe our supportive but lukewarm reaction to the Power Destroyer will be something of a guide to what's really cool.

Jeremy choose a 6-inch long army helicopter: mild by comparison to Harry's choice. He already has a couple of helicopters and we asked if he was sure he needed another, but it was his money.


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