Oh What Do You Do In the Summertime?

When I was a young mother, we lived in California. I loved the summertime. I loved having my children home and the break from the school schedule and routine. I didn’t mind if they stayed up a little later than school days and slept in a little later than school mornings. I enjoyed trips to the beach, picnics in the park, and the longer days. But there was something that happened every Tuesday and every Friday that made summertime a little complicated.

It was the little truck that ran around the neighborhood soliciting children, playing music and expecting them (or me) to waste our money on icy treats. That’s right, the ice cream man! As my kids were young enough and I had never purchased anything from that truck, I told my children that he was a music man and was kind enough to serenade the neighborhood, and they believed me. Or at least, for a while that worked well. We would be inside completing chores and hear the “music man” and the kids would delight in his little song. They would even comment how nice he was, to just stop by and give us a musical treat for the day. Little did they know! Until one day when Grandpa was visiting and he heard the music and ran outside. The children quickly followed and when they came in the house, they all announced, “Mommy, Grandpa just bought ice cream from the music man!” My cover was blown!

Obviously, every day thereafter we had quite a different reaction to the “music man” coming around. The kids naturally wanted to get something. At first I let them use their money and they learned the hard way how quickly their money disappeared. When their money was gone, they begged for mine but I refused to pay 50 cents for a Popsicle that would cost a dime at the grocery store. At the same time, I was having trouble finding motivation for the children to practice their musical instruments, to continue reading through the summer and to get out and exercise. So that’s when I came up with an ingenious plan that worked for the next 10 years and had us all looking forward to summer for one more reason.

We started out by going to the grocery store and we chose four different boxes of ice cream treats. I had the kids sit down with the receipt and do the math—$1 divided by 12 Popsicles = 8 cents a Popsicle. Six drumstick ice creams bars for $2.25 came out to be 38 cents a treat. Much better than the 75 cents charged by the “music man”. On we went, doing the math, putting the individual cost on each box and putting the treats away in the freezer. I got a canning jar and put it out on the counter. Here were the rules: After chores were done, for one half hour of practicing piano/violin, or one half hour of reading or one half hour or exercise they were allowed to BUY a treat. They didn’t even have to ask. One treat per day. Just deposit the money in the jar. It worked really well. Chores were done early, books were being read and very little nagging needed for practicing or getting outside to get exercise. When the treats were almost gone, we would take our money from the jar, add it up (more math) to see how much money we had to spend for our next supply of treats and return to the store to get more. They looked for coupons to help their purchase and checked to see what ice cream novelties might be on sale to make their money go even further.

We all laughed together as the “music man” came around. One of the children made it a point to go out and check his prices, just to be able to brag a bit about what a bargain we had in our freezer! Once in a while if they were getting along really well, I would announce, Mom’s treat, have a free ice cream, and I would put the money into the jar so that it was there when we returned to the store.

This was a wonderful solution! In fact, it worked so well that we had friends visiting, bringing their money and asking, “Sister Stewart, can I buy a treat?” To which I would ask, “Have you practiced, exercised, or read today?” And they had. But first I called their mom to make sure it was okay they have the treat and also to explain why their child was paying for the treat! To this day, I wonder if their mothers thought I was a real tightwad! I really am, but in this case, I still feel it was a creative way to resolve a problem and motivate children to get things done.

My children are all grown and have children of their own. There don’t seem to be “music men” in their neighborhoods, so they may not incorporate the same solution in their homes. But they all remember with fondness our days in southern California with the “music man”.