This weekend Mom and I had planned to get Corwin to open a saving account, since he had much more money in cash than a little boy should have. On the way to the bank we had Corwin count up his reserves and it turned out he had only $6. Mom and I paniced but Corwin was completely unconcerned. We thought he had dropped his money somewhere, but eventually figured that then he wouldn’t have any money left. Mom counted up some of the toys Corwin had bought over the last few weeks and thought it was possible that he’d gone through all of the cash. What’s interesting is that Corwin seems somewhat aware of his low cash position as he hasn’t tried to buy things he can no longer afford.
One of the things Corwin blew his wad on was a small plastic plane launcher. Corwin didn’t have his wallet at the time so he promised me that he’d pay me back for the $2.99 toy. The next day while we were going to the bank, I asked for $3 for reimbursement. Corwin objected that the toy had only cost $2, not $3. I pointed out that $2.99 was almost $3, only 1¢ difference and that with tax, Corwin was actually ripping Dad off for 6¢ or so. But Corwin didn’t believe any of that because he knew the toy had cost $2.99. After some additional badgering by Mom, Corwin gave in and just gave me the $3 in ill grace. But that wasn’t the end of it. In the evening, after supper, Corwin came over to me to tell me that I owed him a penny because the toy was $2.99. I rewarded his persistence with a shiny new penny and Corwin was pleased with his negotiating skills.