Sometimes You Set An Example For Your Kids, But Other Times They Set One For *You*

I want to share a quick story with you.

Earlier today on the Facebook page I shared this post I wrote last year about Number 4 starting to babysit and how her, let’s just say… exuberant personality that I once thought would be the death of me had served her well.

Because now at twelve years old, she’s still a ballbuster, but she’s super proactive, she’s a go-getter, and she’s a hustler.

She is probably my kid who is most likely to receive a full scholarship to college, but also the kid who will need college the least.

Because she just gets sh*t done, and she makes things happen.

She doesn’t need accountability or a kick in the butt or nagging or reminding.

And she inspires me.

Number 4 takes great pride in her babysitting work.

She loves it, and she is very responsible with her money, and she’s consistently made between $100 – $200 a month since she first started babysitting last December.

Because she makes semi-consistent money, she is now semi-responsible for buying her own clothing.

This, in turn, has really taught her the value of a dollar, and it has also shown her how long it can take to make money but how quickly you can spend it.

Number 4 is also super thoughtful, and she really wanted to buy Christmas gifts for her brothers and sisters and also for my husband and me this year.

I told her she didn’t need to get us any gifts, but she insisted.

And since the season is really more about giving than it is about receiving, I didn’t want to discourage her.

She had given me about $150 back in October to set aside for Christmas shopping. She didn’t want to touch it so she could go shopping for all of us.

On Tuesday nights she has no swim practice, so she went to the mall with my husband. She wanted to do some shopping with her dad.

Plus she knows that I kind of hate shopping, so she gave me a break.

She knew exactly which stores she wanted to go to, she knew exactly what she wanted to get, and she knew exactly how much she wanted to spend on everyone.

She had a plan, and she stuck to it.

Last year she did the same thing, but she only had one babysitting job under her belt at the time which gave her about $5 to spend per person which was a little bit of a challenge.

But this year she had saved up a good amount of cash.

She got home around 8:45 with almost all of her shopping complete.

She was so excited.

“MOM!” she exclaimed. “Christmas is SO fun when you can get things for people that you are really proud of.”

I knew exactly how she felt.

Everything she got is stuff that everyone will love. She really pays attention to what people like (plus I think she may have surveyed everyone beforehand).

After she showed me everything she had bought, she asked me if she could wrap everything.

At first I told her to wait.

I mean, it was a week before Christmas. She had plenty of time.

But then I realized that is the procrastinator in me. That’s what has me wrapping presents at 1:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve.

She wanted to get it done immediately.

Perhaps I should take a page out of her book.

There she goes again, being the role model for me, instead of the other way around.

She was so responsible and so proactive and I was just so impressed with her.

Plus Number 3 was still at swim practice and wouldn’t be home for another 45 minutes, and the little guys were up in bed.

It was the perfect time for her to get it done.

So I told her she could watch The Good Place — her favorite show– while she wrapped her presents in the playroom.

And that’s what she did.

Who knows what’s going happen down the road. There are no guarantees that your kids are gonna go down the path you hope they will.

I often feel like I’m making so many mistakes.

But on Tuesday night, Number 4 reassured me that at least sometimes, I must be doing something right.