29 Gifts - Day 21 - Encouragement

Today's gift was an opportunity almost missed. 

As we wandered the narrow aisles of Michael's Craft Store looking for items for Sweet Nuts, Christmas wrapping and gift-giving, and Maestro's magic show/kid drop in tomorrow night, Chef bemoaned his fate of not having a way to earn money. 

*** Interruption for a shameless plug: did you see that I've added two new pages at the top? If you haven't checked them out, please make sure you do! ***

Back to the almost-missed opportunity... Chef went on for some time about not having a way to earn money, and to be honest, he was getting really. really. irritating. (I'm not a perfect mom, just an always-there Mom, and I pray that in the end it is enough!)
I was so tempted to just shut him down; give him the "stop whining, knock it off, today isn't about you, etc." kind of talk. But I have thought many, many times (and said it to many people!) that kids his age should start looking to earn money outside of mom and pop. They should be looking for ways to fund their own gifts, adventures, etc., starting at about age ten, as they mature into young men and ladies who are ready for heavier responsibilities at home and in their schooling.

SO as I listened to him, I started looking around - we were in a craft store, after all! We are reading a book aloud called From Pulling Weeds to Picking Stocks (a good little book, by the way), and as I wandered the store aisles, this quote floated into my mind: 

When we decided to write a book together our parents naturally said, "You should see what you can do!"

What a wonderful concept to pass on to our children - "...see what you can do!" That is so far from my natural inclination. It is not always what I was raised with; it is not (sadly) what we have always given our children. I have often started out telling them the many things they need to learn or do before their idea will work; when in fact, simply giving them the reins and allowing them to try out that idea will tell them what works and what doesn't. They can and will gain experience by the mere effort of something. 

Back to my tale - so I stopped myself from telling Chef to stop his whining, and told him that I looked forward to seeing what he can do. So he chose a few small wooden boxes to decorate in a specific way, he counted out how much they cost, how much he might sell them for, and how the proceeds should be spent to sustain the business and make more. And we bought two boxes to start with. You'll get to see what he can do sometime this weekend as we either add a third page to this site, or as we add his boxes to Cocoa Nutty Goodies (my own new Nuts page above.) Either way, expect to hear about them. 

But the gift here... is shutting my OWN mouth and thoughts to negativity and allowing Chef the space to dream, to plan, to Own his future, both in the immediate and far away as he dreams of his Bugatti (the very expensive, very rare car he one day hopes/plans to buy), and learns to run a business and to dream big.

So to Chef, Maestro, Bruiser, Buttercup and Mr. Magoo: Dream big. I look forward to seeing what you can do!