mirrae

My son wants a puppy. Begging and pleading for a puppy. But he barely feeds the fish (a Betta) that he had to have! And never cleans the fish tank without the threat of punishment!

(I wonder if he really thought I would cook Flappy for dinner!)

For his birthday he got a toy RC Car. He quickly beat it up (in a day) and his little sister accidentally ran it into the street drain. The car was gone! He was being very nice and sharing his new toy and I felt so bad that we immediately went to the store and replace it with a bigger better RC Ferrari!

After the excitement of the new car wore off (the next day) he continued with pleading for a puppy. And quick to snap, I said “you can't even feed the fish or take care of your toys, why do you think you deserve a dog.” (I am mean ... I know) He scurried away distraught.

Well a day later a new negotiation took place, he proposed that if he were to be able to take care of the RC Ferrari for a year without breaking it then surely that shows his ability to take care of a puppy. I said ok, thinking his plan would just go away and be forgotten. About a month later I asked where his RC Farrari was, that I had not seen him playing with it in a long time. “Its under my bed, I am taking care not to break it so I can get a puppy in 11 months.”

I said “that makes no sense, it's a toy and it's meant to be played with; you can play with it and just be cautious not to break it. In addition son, it makes no sense to hide your toy under the bed to keep safe so that later you could get something bigger and better like a puppy!”

And then I stopped dead in my tracks ... wait ... did my son just learn the art of long term investing or the art of the HODL all by just thinking about time and outcomes!

Our chess games must be working!

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