This past summer, our son was asking if we would get him a new bike.
We said that he was going to have to earn it.
We suggested that he start going around to the neighbors to ask if they needed help around the house with yard work and things like that. We said he could use the lawnmower and we would pay for the gas he needed to use. So he went around mowing lawns and was making pretty good money. It turned out that our elderly neighbor needed the most help. She was really thankful when our son went to talk to her about any help she needed around the house. She had a whole list of things she needed to get done and nobody was there to help her out. She was willing to pay a decent amount of money for him to help out with all the work. She wanted him to help clean her HVAC unit and change the air filters. She wanted help cleaning the outdoor A/C condenser unit also. He wasn’t sure how to do those things, but she showed him how it was done. He also did a bunch of other things like vacuuming, painting, trimming the bushes, and other things. Even by the time he made enough to buy his new bike, he was still over there all the time helping out our elderly neighbor. They became really good friends and our son enjoyed just hanging out sipping on lemonade and talking. I’m glad that our son made such a great friend in our neighborhood and he has learned a lot about being a hard worker.