Chloe asked me what she could do to earn money today. Vacuuming out the car is always a good stand-by. So I told her I would be happy to give her $2.50 for vacuuming out Daddy's car. She was thrilled. I asked her what she wanted to do with the money she earned and she simply replied, "Give it away."
Bennett was with us when we were in the negotiation process of this exchange and piped up after about 5 minutes of listening, "Mom. I don't think it's fair that you only pay Chloe $2.50 for doing a very hard job. I think it's worth more than that. Last week when we all vacuumed out the big car it was very hard. And she's going to be doing this all by herself."
"That's a good point you bring up Bennett. What do you think a fair about would be?", I reasoned with him.
"I think you should pay her $5." was his reply.
I asked Chloe, "Did you see what your brother just did for you. He got you more money to a job you agreed to do for a little bit of money."
"Thank you, Bennett." she sweetly said to him. Since she has no concept of monetary value, the amount didn't really matter to her. What mattered was that her brother stood up for her and for that she had stars in her eyes.
Bennett cannot sit by and watch when he feels something is happening unfairly. He must speak up. This has its negative qualities, to be sure (as in, when we're asking something of him that he feels is unfair, quite the 'discussion' ensues). But I feel that the positives out-weigh the negatives in this instance. I'm proud of his character choice. He didn't benefit from this in the least bit - but he spoke up anyways. Way to think of others, Bennett. May you always stand up for the underdog, the down and out, the unloved and un-noticed.
