Jason Loves Mateios #6

Matty found a quarter the other day and acted like it was a gold nugget from the 1849 California Gold Rush.  We haven’t taught him much about money (don’t need him to be too consumeristic before he’s five), so he doesn’t know what the coins are called.  The aforementioned quarter took the ominous name “money”.  So he ran around the house showing everyone his “money”.  He found a piggy bank (Ham from Toy Story – AKA Evil Dr. Pork Chop) and asked for the cork to be removed so he could put his “money” in the piggy bank, dump it out and put it in all over again.  He did this for a while and then I tried to put the cork back on and distract him with a train or a truck or something.  He just yelled at me, “Don’t take my 'monies'!”  I was taken aback for a second…not realizing that a three-year-old has the same reaction that I do when people try to tell me what to do with my “monies”.  I told him that it was just a quarter and that there was much more important things in life.  He looked up at me and said in the most self-assured manner, “I love money more than anything.”

This obviously wasn’t a good thing.  We don’t talk that often about money, especially not around him, so I had no idea where he got that idea.  I quickly told him that “No, you don’t love money more than anything.  What do you love most in the world?”  Sensing my disdain for his previous utterance about the value of a quarter, he decided to contemplate his answer carefully.  He looked down, looked up, then had that light-bulb look and said in the most innocent, nonchalant voice, “Snacks.”  I honestly couldn’t argue with this…it was close to dinner time and I was starting to think with my stomach as well.  But, being the good dad that I am, I reminded him of the truly important things in life that he loves more than anything…Jesus, mommy and daddy.  He just looked over at me like I had said something in Swahili and asked me, “Want to see my money daddy?”

“Of course I do.  Where should we put it?”  And we started putting our quarter in Evil Dr. Pork Chop all over again.

Side Note: Michelle did the mature parental thing and found a second piggy bank that she talked about being for other people (to give away).  She gave Matty a second quarter and asked that he put one quarter in the piggy bank for someone else and one quarter in his own piggy bank.  I would like to say that I would have thought of this idea, but I honestly wouldn’t have.  Which is reason number 8,527 why I married the greatest woman on planet earth!