$20 Poorer. - Cheaper Than Therapy Cheaper Than Therapy

July 6 11

$20 Poorer.

Joshua, age 4: “I don’t want to ride my bike.”

Joshua, age 5: “I can’t ride my bike.”

Joshua, age 6: “I don’t want to ride my bike.”

Joshua, age 7: “I will never ride my bike.”

Joshua, age 8: “I give up.”

Me, age 33: “I will give you this here crisp $20 bill if you learn to learn to ride your two-wheeler.”

Any guesses as to how many minutes passed before he was riding that thing?

I’ll give you a hint. It was fewer than 6.

My son took me for a ride, by, well, quite literally taking himself for one.

Little scammer.

Filed Under

The Boy

Comments

haha! at least he’s up and riding!
Comment by Bronnie on July 6, 2011
It’s funny what motivates our kids. My friend is having trouble getting his girls to ride, I’m going to fill him in on your trick 🙂

Oh, and I LOVE his helmet!!
Comment by mapsgirl on July 7, 2011
He can scam me any day :0)
Comment by Jen on July 7, 2011
I’m sending him on the next flight 🙂
Comment by ali on July 7, 2011
Man! My mum only gave me $5 to learn to ride my bike! I guess that’s inflation…
Comment by Jessica on July 7, 2011
Ha! I would have offered less if I thought that it was going to work!
Comment by ali on July 7, 2011
A) Your son is adorable and B) you are a genius.
I’m trying this today.
Comment by Kris (Letmepeeinpeace) on July 7, 2011
Let me know how it goes!
Comment by ali on July 7, 2011
Once again, he and Graham are TWINS. I guess it’s time for the money bribe at casa Dykstra…
Comment by Angella on July 7, 2011
And I was not expecting it to work at all.
It was a nice surprise…totally worth the $20!
Comment by ali on July 7, 2011
A well thought-out incentive program can do wonders! ; )
Comment by Beth on July 7, 2011
Cash incentives work wonders.
Comment by Issa on July 7, 2011
So cute! Occasionally we offer our son $0.25 to try new food. Sometimes he flat out refuses (big NO to guacamole) and other times it works and guess what? He LIKES the food.
Comment by Laura on July 7, 2011
I bet my mom is thankful I had an older brother. I didn’t need money as a bribe. All I had to hear was “well, your brother did this at your age” and then I had to beat him.

Also, I like Josh’s badass helmet!
Comment by Kristabella on July 7, 2011
my mom said my sister and I learned to ride at the same time (she’s 4 years older). Because she was learning, I *HAD* to learn too. And that’s how Isabella is too. She is days away from learning, just because Josh did.

Josh marches to a different drummer. The nihilist kind. heh.
Comment by ali on July 7, 2011
ALSO. His helmet is from WALMART!
Comment by ali on July 7, 2011
So sneaky! And adorable. 🙂

My daughter learned to ride her 2-wheeler two summers ago before her big brother did. If he hadn’t learned by last summer, I would’ve totally resorted to the bribe. I was lucky and able to keep my $20. But, yeah, I was willing to go as high as $20 like you. 🙂
Comment by Nenette on July 7, 2011
Clearly he’s a diabolical (financial) genius.
Comment by Alexandria on July 7, 2011
Well done. Isn’t interesting how there are so many kids these days who can’t ride a bike? That was unheard of when I was growing up.
Comment by Tamara on July 7, 2011