At Gideon's school, he gets fake money for behaving, helping out, etc, etc. When he gets to $25 he gets to buy something out of the prize bin. Well, he bought what he thought was a wooden train to paint and build. When Kathee and I opened it after he went to bed, we found out that it had been opened, and that whoever donated it had filled it with junk. There were wooden pieces, but they weren't for a train. There was some other half-done art projects, too.
So we talked to Gideon about how many things in life aren't what they seem, that many times things in life look good on the outside but when you see what's inside it's junk, etc, etc, etc. That being said, I took him out to find a project we could do in place of what he thought he had purchased.
In going to Home Depot, because I remember seeing some woodworking stuff YEARS ago in a store I was in, we found out that they only sell kids projects through the internet. After talking to the ladies at customer service for a while, we ended up being given a woodworking project that they do with kids in-store once a month. However, it would take too much of my work, and I wanted Gideon to build it. So we ended up buying one at Walmart and heading home to paint and glue.
Then when he builds and paints, after the girls are sleeping, he and I can sit and chat.
I really look foward to 7:30-8pm each night when Gideon and I get to talk and do stuff as "just the guys."
By the way, when G's teacher found out, she let him pick another prize, which is a remote controlled moon that hangs on his wall and lights up. It's super-cool. In the end, he got way more than his fake $25.
