Hunter for Hire

The continuation of the saga...A boy and his bottles.

Ethan hired his younger brother Hunter (2 1/2) to help him on his recycle route. The first day that Ethan asked him to come with him I thought, "Hmmm, 25 cents sounds reasonable"

"Hey Ethan, how about if you give Hunter 25 cents for helping you?"
"Ok. Hey Hunter. Do you want a dollar if you help with my recycle route?"
"YA!"

Well, I guess it's only appropriate that they negotiate the terms without my getting involved. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now.

$1 for 15 minutes of collecting bottles and cans....that works out to be $4 an hour. Despite the minimum wage in California being $6.25 both boys were more than happy with the arrangement. Imagine that!

They were so excited to work together that they took off with out me and I got out to the curb just in time to see two VERY excited little boys running down the street at break neck speed. I started running after them but, they were nearly a block ahead of me running as fast as they could. One pulling, one pushing. It seemed at any moment the little red wagon would achieve lift off.

If any of the neighbors have thought that I'VE been the one pushing him to do his recycle business.... surely the sight of me chasing my boys down the street would have been a testament to the contrary.

Hunter was a very hard little worker. He did have his moments when he didn't want to help anymore, but Ethan would remind him of the dollar waiting for him at the end of the route. (Yes, I realize this is a carrot (Kiyosaki's illusion) and it is NOT my intention to train Hunter to be an employee. He'll have his chance once he can speak a little better and is out of diapers.)

When all the bottles and cans were collected and the wagon was full the race back home was on! The boys were very efficient working as a team. Ethan cut his time out on the route in half. Once we were home Hunter and Ethan each got to wear a pair of rubber gloves and sorted the bottles and cans into their respective bins.

When they were done and back inside Ethan told his brother, "I changed my mind. I don't want to give you a dollar anymore." I stepped in at this point (The LAW & Proper Role of Government). Hunter kept his end of the agreement and Ethan was obligated to pay him one dollar. Ethan got out his wallet and I helped him count out one dollar in change. Ethan was very upset that so many of his coins went to his brother. I think he still is learning that different coins have different monetary values. Right now he'd rather have a pile of coins than one bill even though they might be the same face value. He must think it's worth more since there's more. But if HE values quantity I guess it really IS more valuable.

Hunter was SO pleased with himself and his big handfuls of coins. He sat patiently dropping each little coin into his piggy bank. Ethan got over his angst when he took his load of bottles and cans to the recycle place and got $32 for them.

Ethan takes Hunter on his recycle route any time he can. Ethan gets help and likes it. Hunter gets paid... quite generously and likes it. I get home faster and LOVE IT!