Judge John Hodgman on Making Children Save Up for Lego Hogwarts

[conuly]

Dana writes: Our kids really wanted the big Lego Hogwarts set. So my husband and I bought it, planning to stash it away until they saved enough money to pay for it. It’s four months later, and they haven’t saved any money. But now we’re sheltering in place. I suggested that Lego Hogwarts could be deployed in case of emergency boredom. His response? “They’d better start saving money.”

First of all, I hope you are all safe and healthy. Even your husband. I also hope by now your husband has agreed, either by reason of decency or claustrophobia, to let the Lego bricks fly. It is very difficult right now for anyone to make money, never mind children who are forced to earn their toys. Kindness, patience and productive distraction are as vital right now as paid sick leave, stimulus checks and rent forgiveness. I use my executive powers to vote for an immediate Lego bailout.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/magazine/judge-john-hodgman-on-making-children-save-up-for-lego-hogwarts.html

Comments

[cynthia1960]

I'm going to go with the judge for the Lego bailout. In pre-pandemic times, I might have been more supportive of the parents teaching their kids to save for things they want; however, right now when I see our capitalist economy melting down and hopefully transforming into something fairer, I wonder if that old lesson plan is worth hanging on to at all. There are more important lessons to learn about work and money going on all around us.

[rosefox]

There's also a difference between telling kids to save and teaching them to save. I suspect Blithe Dad has not done much of the latter.

[cynthia1960]

+1000