Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Horses

I have been trying to convince Jason for the past two weeks that going to the Arabian Horse show would be life changing, cause here's the thing: I hate Saturday chores more than the kids and I'm always looking for an excuse to get out of them.  I know I'm probably the only mormon mom out there that doesn't have her kids cleaning windows and vacuuming floors all Saturday long.  It's not that I'm against chores, I'm just against doing them all day on Saturday because after a long week all I want to do is relax with the fam.  And I also have to put in a plug for allowance while we're on the subject. I've heard so many moms say that kids shouldn't be paid for being part of the family, but I disagree.  Ever since we started doing an allowance the kids have kept their rooms and bathrooms cleaned all week without nagging, the dishwasher gets unloaded, the table gets set, lunches get made and clean clothes are no longer sitting in their baskets for weeks at a time. I also think it's so good for them to start learning how to manage their money--they put 10% in tithing, 50% in savings and 40% for spending, my parents had us do that and it was a great habit to get into. At a weekly rate of $2.50 they are starting to realize that it will take years before they can save up for anything. Oh well. Anyways....that was quite the unrelated tangent.  Back to the horses.  So Jayden envisioned the horse show to be like the Kentucky Derby and Kylie thought we were going to see a Rodeo so we were all a little disappointed that we drove 45 minutes to see a glorified beauty pageant for horses where all they did was trot around the rink then waited to be judged. Yawn.  Even Maddox kept asking where the "super fast horsies" were. (this lady looks the least bit pleased that I keep taking her picture)
They did have some beautiful horses and the day was saved when Jason found this "paint your own ceramic pony" booth.  Maddox insisted on painting his green. Then he named his horse "Red". 



 Eventhough it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, it was nice getting out of the house and enjoying a day together with the family.  It's also been fun seeing them go through a horse phase, besides seeing Maddox drag his now two-legged "Big Red" around everywhere, they also spent all Sunday evening playing cowboys.  Yee-haw!





5 comments:

Diana said...

What? There are so many valuable things to teach a kid by giving them allowance! We do, 50 cents for certain chores (and then there are the obligatory chores that earn nothing, and that to me is considered being part of the family) This month Carter is earning 13 and Anderson 10. Soon it will add up to a DS! :)Hopefully they will value that DS because they had to work really really hard for it.

Janessa said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the way you write! You always make me laugh! I'm glad you found the horse painting station and that Maddox is loving his new best friend, Red. That boy cracks me up! Your kiddos make for some adorable cow boys (and girl)! They'd do Texas well:)

On another note, I think there is definitely a way to work an allowance in and still teach your kids all the other valuable lessons about working together and being part of a family. In the past we were just too poor to pay our kids an allowance and now we're just too cheap:) Ha, ha! Actually, we're trying to change our ways and are working on coming up with a list of chores they can do to earn money. I think there are a lot of valuable lessons to learn about earning, saving and managing money that can be taught through an allowance.

Tyson and Dawn Jolley said...

Too cute! Those horses are beautiful, but I would imagine it would have been a boring show. And, I was not aware of such a discussion of no allowances for the poor mormon kids. I agree with you...it's a great tool to show kids to pay tithing and stuff like that. If I got an allowance, I probably would have done chores too...after all, you wouldn't go to a job and work for free! I am with you on this one!

Jodee said...

ok, those are some awesome horses they made to play cowboys on. Way better than the prissy ones at the show! Although, my horse obsessed daughter would have probably loved to sit there and tell you all about which horse is which and what kind of trot or gallop or whatever they are doing- blah
as for the chore discussion, we have tried chore charts, allowance, designated chore time etc... it always seems to just fall through the cracks. I can never seem to keep it up. I should, but I don't. So no, you are not the only mom not doing Sat. chores! Heck, we just don't do chores around here. We just clean up when people come over so at least it looks like we do chores. Thats all that matters right;)

Chelsea said...

lol, I'm dying over the equestrian. She looks straight ticked. Good thing you tried it, good family fun, and hooray for no chores! I can never tell my kids the path you have chosen, they will be brimming over with jealousy! I love the horses they are riding! your kids are so creative.