Ashes to Beauty…Kind Of

So, remember my plan to help them (and me) remember to behave by introducing a "pain point" — i.e., attaching a monetary consequence for being jerky? Every time we were in violation (Cody with being mean to Cora, Cora with whining/backtalk, and me with yelling) we had to put cold, hard cash in our homemade poor box.

Cody's piggy bank is looking pretty grim. Cordelia has hidden hers.

So tonight, we did a big count. I threw in an extra $20 to cover the multitude of times I know I yelled and failed to charge myself. They wanted to send it to Food for the Poor this month. And we raised $54! That's how bad we were!

Cody's reaction: Yay! This is amazing! We are turning our acts of unkindness into a big act of kindness! We are going to give children food and clean water and things that will help them! Any time I get an allowance for chores, I'm just going to put it right in the poor box! I am so happy to give them my money!

Cordelia's reaction: I am not! The poor people don't need MY money. I need it! I will just give them a couple of my dollars. Or quarters. Probably quarters. Are dimes smaller than quarters?

At which point I reminded her that such an attitude isn't exactly what our Lord had in mind. And that instead of punishing them/ourselves, this was a good way to remember that our actions have consequences, and that there are always opportunities to find goodness and hope in the middle of difficulty. Or whining. Or aggression. Or hollering.

She didn't buy it. My little miser actually said, "Why don't you just let me be with my money? Instead of stealing my money, why won't you just let me sit with it?"

I. Have. No. Words.

She's like Scrooge. Or Gollum.