The Coupon Book

 Just before we left town, Charles could hardly contain his excitement as he gave us the Christmas present he made for us at school. Looking forward to opening the annual ornament, we were surprised by a little coupon book! Such a cute idea! There are ten coupons:

Feed the kitten 

Clean my room 

Set the table 

Spend time with my parents, for 1 hr.

Be nice to my sister, for 1 hr. 

Do the dishes 

Vacuum 

Make my bed, for 1 week 

Mow the lawn 

Don't complain about food

His eyes lit up as we read them, but he jostled a little from foot to foot and mentioned that each coupon was only good for one use. We loved how thoughtful the illustrated book was. It wasn't just ideas that every kid wrote down. There were two that are favorites of mine. Mow the lawn, with a picture of himself driving the tractor. Obviously he feels he is old enough now to be responsible for that task. The second is 'don't complain about food.' This showed me that he was being thoughtful to include things that we would especially appreciate.

When we returned from vacation and walked into the house he noticed the little book right away where we left it on the window sill. "mom", he said quite seriously, "remember when you use a coupon, you have to give it too me so that I can shred it." This struck me as hilarious! He is such a conscientious kid, and for the most part doesn't need a coupon book. I think he just wants to be sure that we don't pull the 'be nice to my sister' card more than once!