“It’s online mom.”

“You don’t get it. It’s online Mom. Buy the tickets.”

So, how do you make your 18 year old son with an intellectual disability understand that money doesn’t grow online or on trees. That paying $300 for standing-room only tickets to the Warriors – Spurs game so he can get a rally towel is not going to happen because we don’t spend our money that way. And how do I stay calm while I try to explain for the umpteenth time that Abba works hard to earn the money?  I know that this same conversation will come up again. But it isn’t even the conversation I mind – it is the concern that I need him to understand this so hopefully some day he will independently have money to spend and make choices. I should add, that Ari is conserved, so I don’t have to worry about him agreeing to buy season tickets or something else shiny and dangly, but the point is to help him be independent which means I need him to understand the concept of making good financial choices.

I listened again to the Beautiful Writers podcast with Seth Godin. I get his emails and know how he feels about writing every day. Consistency. My consistency. This is my challenge and it shows up in all areas of my life – including parenting Ari. Any long term lesson, like the value of money requires consistency on my part to have Ari earn things. But how do I strengthen my consistency muscle? One small habit done consistently leads to another small habit. Perhaps my wish to keep my cooking blog up requires me to develop my writing habit. So, today I start a category  called Musings which most likely will be about parenting a child with an intellectual disability more than cooking.  But now, I’ll go back to watching the Warriors – Wizards game… on TV.