October 21

Today I paid Robin $8 to draw a picture. Mostly I wanted her to stop looking so listless and grumpy at the dinner table, so I offered her $2 to do SOMETHING she found at least mildly entertaining for at least ten minutes. She decided to draw, and (surprise) wanted to keep going at the end of the ten minutes. Of course she wanted to be paid by the minute, but instead I asked her to place a value on her finished art – as though she were an artist selling me her work. She said $8, I said $6, and then she went ahead and drew a second picture and threw it in to earn the extra $2. I don’t know if this is smart parenting or lazy parenting because it really feels like I’m paying my kid to like, breathe, but DUDE. How do you get teenagers to do ANYTHING?? At least this way she’s doing something that gets her out of her head AND she’s learning the value that can be gained from doing it. Because let’s face it. Artists can get paid for their art. And why shouldn’t she? Given tonight’s success, I’m thinking of commissioning some work for our bare bedroom wall next. We’ll see. For now I’m just happy with the small window of success we had tonight. Because I know it ain’t gonna last. These kids are wily like foxes. It’s hard to stay in front around here.