Hoop dreams

Yes, even in 3rd world countries there are toy fads. The latest and greatest toy to hit town is the hula hoop. A couple months they suddenely appeared EVERYWHERE. They are bright and colorful and I'll admit, if I were a kid, I would think they were pretty cool. It is hard to go into a store without seeing them and lots of kids in our neighborhood have them. A while back, Elijah decided he HAD to have a hula hoop.

We are not the type of people to just go out and buy a toy for our kids just because... they have tons of toys, and I know the boys well enough to know they would not have the faintest clue what to do with a hula hoop nor have the coordination to acutally use one. :) So, we decided to teach Elijah a bit about money and give him opportunities to earn money to buy his own hula hoop.

Trouble is the stupid hoops are EXPENSIVE. I went in the store pictured above (which happens, by the way, to be the only store in town that sells canned refried bean and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving time!) and asked... the hoops were $7 a piece! That may not seem like much, but I know for a fact they are cheaper at WalMart... and considering that the average wage here is $3 a day, I was shocked that so many kids here have them. AND trying to keep Elijah engaged in earning money long enough to save $7 was going to be impossible... so I thought.

Money here is based in 1000 rp bills. 1000 rps equals roughly a dime. We gave Elijah extra jobs to do around the house - sweeping under the dining room table (mainly under Ezra and Caleb's spots!) after meals, wiping the bathroom sink down, helping fold laundry.... he did SUCH a good job. I was really impressed with how careful he was and he was so excited to earn money - we gave him a few 1000 rp bills each job and he kept them in a box.

It's been about 6 weeks since we've began the little project and he is almost able to buy his hoop. He had grand dreams of saving enough money to buy Caleb one too, but I'm afraid the hoop craze will be over before he gets that much! One good thing in the delay is that the prices have come down some... he could get a medium size one now for about $3. The other great benedit from this whole thing is he is SO much more careful around the house... and makes Caleb be too... "Caleb eat your sandwhich over your plate... you're making too many crumbs for me to sweep up." It's given us a better idea of his abillities too; definitley enjoying not having to sweep every day. :)

We're going to take him to buy his hoop this weekend; will post pictures of it. :)