THE UPDATE ON THE JARS

A few weeks back, we started the berrytribe point jars.

Tonight was a classic night for them. Here’s a window into our world for all you reality TV junkies.

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After dinner, everyone wanted to “buy” desert. A big cookie was selling for 2 green chips.

Jake assessed the situation and with 7 chips, he bought one. Usually he just says, “how much for an banana.” I say, “it’s free”, and he eats fruit instead, saving his chip for some kinda windfall.
Tyler sizes up his loot and buys one too.
Becky and Billy just straight up buy a cookie, ignoring how many chips are left after said purchase.
TJ did something yesterday that landed him a black chip (I wasn’t here. I don’t even know what it was for, but it was there) and he was still 2 green chips away from redemption, so he didn’t get a cookie. Last time I saw him, he was reading stories to siblings, doing dishes, and working on homework trying to dig out of his hole. It worked. Still no cookie. But he’s free from debt 🙂

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Then, after dinner, I asked Tyler if he would go start the shower for his brother.

He said “sure”, stopped playing his computer game and ran up stairs almost immediately to start the shower. I was all prepared to award some green chips for his actions and attitude.

The next thing I know, Billy is crying. Alone. Upstairs in the bathroom.

I go upstairs to see what has happened and the kid is standing there naked crying. I ask what’s wrong and he says he needs help with the shower. After like a 3 minute conversation about how standing naked crying is not a good solution to any problem in the world and 4 practice rounds of leaving the bathroom to come down the hall and ask for help, I finally check the water which has been running the whole time.

[SIDE NOTE: sometimes I think Billy forgets he is not in the orphanage anymore and his brain freezes and all of a sudden he is parentless and alone in some jungle of confusion. I think next time I’m just gonna splash him until he snaps out of it 🙂 ]

… Back to the water I was checking. Yeah. It’s freezing. FREEZING. So, I set the temperature correctly and started the shower for him.

I then go find Tyler and ask him if he “started the shower”. He said, “Yes. You asked me to start the shower for Billy so I did.”

I said, “Really, I coulda chilled my soda with the water spewing out”.

He said, “You asked me if I’d start the shower and I did. I told Billy which way to turn the shower to get it hotter and what to pull to make the shower go and then left.”

I said, “Congratulations, you just landed yourself a black chip. Next time I ask you to start the shower for a sibling, don’t do it half way and then tell me all I asked you to do was start water flowing down the drain for fun.” Unbelievable. From selfless saint to selfish punk inside of 60 seconds.

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There you go. Parenthood in the craziness that is the berrytribe.