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Kid's $800 shoe story ....

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

Well-known Member
One of the replies below in the discussion about why certain farms do financially better than others, etc. got me thinking. This week on
local TV was a story about a kid in grade 8 who wanted an $800 pair of trendy designer shoes for Christmas. That almost made me gag but
the story continues. Mom says she had planned to spend $100 on his Xmas present so she gave him the $100 and told him to look for work,
save the other $700 and buy what he wanted. Lucky for him (I think), we have had a lot of snow since Christmas and the young fellow
rustled up enough customers in his neighborhood to shovel their walks, driveways, and decks etc. over the last two months. Long story
short, he saved up the $700 shortfall and bought the shoes.

Mother obviously contacts the local TV station and brags up the situation and the whole story gets on television. She seems to be proud of
the fact that she taught her kid the right way to buy things he wants (maybe she did) and the kid is happy (that's even better). He went
to school and was the belle of the ball (from Cinderella I think that was) so the story had a happy ending. Mom has received all kinds of
kudos for being a great mom and guiding her kid along the path of doing things the right way.

My take on the story? The mom is foolish (I'll refrain from using the term stupid) ..... nothing wrong with getting a job and saving
money, but to turn around and allow a young boy to spend it on a pair of $800 shoes is absolute nonsense and irresponsible parenting. No
wonder the average family up here owes much more than what is coming into the family coffers every month. In my opinion, unless someone
sits the kid down and explains to him how the world really works, he is in for a lifetime of financial unhappiness if he keeps on the same
path as this last little chapter in his life.

Just my two cents (which I would have advised my kid 30 years ago to put in the bank) !!!
 
Almost as bad as folks spending thousands$ on fixing a up an old tractor they have no practical use for and can't get 20% of what they have invested if they sold it.You explain to me the difference.Different strokes for different folks.I see people spend money on things I wouldn't geve 2 cents for and I'm sure I spend money on things others feel the same way but hey the kid earned the money he has a right to spend it like he wants.
 
The kid will soon learn more about life, work and earning money when he soon outgrows and/or wears out those $800 dollar shoes.
Or he gets held up, literally so that the thief can steal them.

And then thinks about how he spent $800 on a pair of shoes that have maybe $40 in materials and $10 foreign "slave labor" into them. $800 for a name, style and ego stroking pleasure.
 
A lot of us spent it on headers, rims, tires and other speed equipment. Or guns, a boat, snowmobile.
 
Good point, and yes, I can see the comparison.
However, USUALLY the farmer who fixes up a tractor and spends many times what it's worth isn't living under mommy's roof and having mommy pay the rent.
 
What a horrible lesson for a Mom to teach her son to work for something he wants to buy. If he had spent the $800 on a tractor everyone would be cheering him on. Lots of people think we are fools for wasting money on old tractors just because they have sentimental value. To each their own.
 
QUOTE: "As long as a person works and pays their own way in the World and isn't a burden on others what they do with the rest of their time (OR MONEY) isn't up to others to make a call on one way or the other." UNQUOTE

TD, not to beat a good horse to death here, but also that is your quote from a different thread. I just added the words "OR MONEY" to it.
 
At least he worked and paid for the shoes and didn't steal them like most dreamers would have.
 
That is a really cheap life lesson to teach a kid. I imagine once the initial glamor wears off he will rethink his purchase. Next time he wants something cool he will have a whole new set of skills to think about it more carefully. A $800 lesson early in life is better than $100,000 latter in life. You just have to let your kids make little mistakes and learn from it.
 
I'm going to say what I have said on here many times before. "as long as you don't owe me any money, I don't care what you spend your money on" I say good for the kid. He earned it. Can spend on what ever he wants. Crazy horse do you mean to tell me you have never spent money on something just because you wanted to? What about tickets to that concert? or gate charge to get in that tractor show? Or go out to eat at a fancy restaurant? What about that fine leather jacket? and the list can go on and on. You didn't need any of that stuff but if you can afford it and you want it, go ahead and buy it. Enjoy life a little. You can't take it with you. I had an uncle lived like a pauper all his life, died a multi-millionaire. Is that the right way? Maybe. But to each his own. Again, "as long as you don't-------------------.
 
The idea of paying $800 for a pair of shoes is beyond my understanding.
However, the mother did offer the boy a "deal" in that he could earn the rest of the money and buy the shoes he wants. He held up his end of it, so he should get what he worked for and earned. It was a good lesson in the value of a dollar. Maybe someday, he will realize that no pair of shoes is worth that kind of money.
 
The kid had a goal and was willing to work to achieve it. Whether it was a worthwhile goal to any of us is beside the point, it was his goal and he worked to achieve it. That's a valuable lesson for the future when his goals may meet the approval of all of us.
 
Mommy is the one who got knocked up, so mommy should be paying the rent, it?s about a kid in grade 8, not a lazy unemployed 18 yr old...
 
I was thinking the same thing as I was reading the whole list.

So ditto what you just said !
 
good life lesson. Now 8 months from now, the kid will have outgrown, or wore the shoes out. Then he will get to decide if it was worth all the snow shoveling.

His decision.

Gene
 
I guess people that buy nice cars and trucks and get carjacked are in the same boat.I see can't how the victims are responsible for other's criminal acts.If someones steals your tractor do you look it as your fault because you had a tractor someone thought was worth stealing?
 
One of the earliest lessons I learned in life is that if you work hard, you can buy yourself nice things. Then when people see you with your nice things, they take them away from you. So now I keep my nice things out of sight and tell my kids to do the same.
 
A wise old mother once told me it was better to be young and foolish than old and foolish.
 
Amen to that. People thought I was crazy for some of the things I pi$$ed away my money on in my youth.
 

=========================
When I was in my late teens and 20s I wanted a new car so bad and was envious because other guys drove new cars. I did not have the money to buy a new one and my dad was not about to buy me one. So I drove older cars....and my dad did, also.

I learned thru life how to save money, be happy with used cars, to not spend much on clothes, don't gamble, don't smoke and only have a Leinenkugel when I was really thirsty! And I worked hard every day trying to put something away for the future.

Today, at 81 yrs old, my house is paid for, I have plenty stashed away, and I drive new cars and spend a lot of money on old tractors because I have the money to do that. I know I will never get my money back from used cars and pretty tractors. But they are mine, all paid for, and are now the toys I could not buy many years ago.

And....this might be "cruel"...I get a kick out of driving all this stuff when I go to see old friends who had all those new cars many years ago. Guess what they are driving today!

LA in WI (In Wisconsin, it is Leinies only, water is a poor substitute)
 
Cmon, the kid earned 700 of the 800 spent . Pretty good achievement in my book. He had a goal and reached it . I remember trying to convince Mom the 10 dollar Converse were the way to go because 5 dollar Keds weren't cool. That was a hard sell. 700 dollars is a lot of snow shoveling.
 
It's great that you can enjoy what you
worked all those years for.

Dad died at 52. It's a good thing he loved
to work, that's all he ever did. Didn't get
to take a cent with him.
 
My Mom gave me enough for Foremost (Pennys) jeans, Dickie flannel shirts Durango boots. I shoveled snow , mowed lawns delivereds papers,trained dogs so that I could wear Levis, Pendleton and Justin.
 
Yes. It would've been nice if the mother would have encouraged him to spend or save his money and maybe she did. He held up his end of the deal and should be able to spend it how ever he chose.
As far as putting it on the media. Maybe it will teach some other parents and children to earn what they want. Not many children do in this day.
 
I did not know they made shoes that costly, but II am patient, I want on see that boy in 30 years, He may be a corporate executive, drive a Mercedes and wear tailor made suits. He may even pay his own education expenses.
 
Agree dr. The view I take is that the kid developed a goal and struggled through to obtain it. His CHOICE of goals is perhaps a reflection of his being a kid. gm
 
A good friend of mine once told me he spent 1/2 his money on whiskey and women, the rest he wasted. Not sure if that was his saying or something he repeated, but I liked it.
 
To most of us here, yeah, that's a waste of money. On the other hand, like many other posters pointed out, the kid might wind up with buyer's remorse when he realizes how many other things he could've bought with his $700. If this kid learns his lesson now regarding the value of a dollar, he just might be that much wiser the next time he sees some eye candy.
To me, that would be $700 well spent.
 
Flying Belgian ........... Yeah, tough crowd, I'm surprised how many thought that the whole thing was A-O-K (or whatever the expression might be). Personally, had the whole thing happened to them as a parent of an 8th grade boy, I'd bet the family jewels that they'd take a different stand than it being OK to pi$$ hard-earned money away on a pair of shoes. Once again, just my two cents which I kept in the bank and I'm glad that I did.
 
I can argue both side of this one. The boy did work and earn the $700 to buy the shoes he wanted. That is admirable. The bad part to me is that his parents have done such a bad job raising him that he thinks that buying $800 shoes is a good decision.

I tried to teach my kids to save 30-50% of their earned money. I told them they would not be able to save that much when they had a family but to build a nest egg before that would come in handy when they did start that family.
 

To a kid money is no good if he can not spend it I had ratter he work and spend it his way than to not work and depend on me to buy it... The lesson works both ways.. Encourage them to work for there money let them learn how they pizzed it away...
 
I guarantee you almost every person here including you has spent at least $800 when it could have been better spent for necessities.People spend money on trips(why go anywhere when you have a home to stay in when you're paying for it anyway),alcohol in any form,tobacco products,going out to a restaurant when they could fix the same food at home for 25%,putting a high dollar paint job on a tractor when they could have gone to TSC and bought 10 spray cans for a fraction of the cost,getting a high dollar sound system in a vehicle when they don't "need" anything to listen to, etc etc etc.Of course its only silly or crazy when someone else does it.BTW if I really wanted the 1K shoes I'd buy the dang things.
 
His money to do with what ever, but he will soon find out that them shoes won't last any longer then a 80 dollar pair. He found a niche market. There could of been other kids out there shoveling snow also.
 
Each of our kids at some point, wanted something cool and expensive: jeans, tennis shoes, etc.

We told them, "If you really, really want the item - we will pay our normal amount... and you will have to pay the difference. So if I normally buy you jeans that cost $20 bucks and you want a pair that's $120, then you are coughing up the extra $100."

BUT we also told them, "We strongly advise against this purchase. First think of all the good that money could do sitting in a savings account or invested... for YOUR future. And, even if you choose not to put the money into your savings account, then think of all the other things that money could buy."

Each child, upon doing a little pondering... decided that they did not want to buy the expensive/cool item. :)
 
My dad told me a story about his first bicycle. He lived in town, by the way. This would have happened probably in the early 1930's. Dad wanted a bicycle so he asked his dad if he would buy my dad a bicycle. His dad told him "no! go earn it". So dad went to work and earned the money for his first bicycle. Dad never forgot that, he was frugal and a good saver throughout his life but when he did spend money it was for something worthwhile. Now he is in the nursing home and can easily pay his own way for whatever length of time he still has on this earth.

Dad's brother was the favored child of the family, he didn't have to work for anything. He also couldn't hang onto money for the rest of his life.
 
When one of my nephew's classmates turned twelve, he went to his dad and told him that since he was twelve, he deserved an increase in his allowance.
Dad told him, sorry, you are twelve and it's time you earn your living. Dad gave him a bucket, squeegee and window washing gear for his birthday gift. By the time they graduated high school, the kid was a millionaire. Don't remember all the details, that was back in the 70's.
 
If everyone was as tight as many who have posted on this thread the economy would be 1/4 of what it is today.
 
mrs 730's kids never learned the value of a dollar. now the youngest one has got herself into a real mess money wise.
their dad would buy the kids the latest of everything air jordon shoes golf clubs whatever was the newest on the market.
now meghan can't aford this newest stuff and she has a hard time dealing with it "i have to have it it's what is hot"
500 dollar purse when you can't make your car payment
 
Wow. Can you imagine anyone spending lots of money on something they don't really need and that will wear out?

Wait... I guess I just described collecting tractors...

Like my dad says, "Weird describes the things OTHER guys do. What I do is perfectly normal."

Crabby old men have been ranting about "those dang kids these days" since we lived in caves.

Here's what I'd bet will happen. The kid will outgrow or wear out those fancy shoes and only then will he realize just how HARD he had to work for the short amount of time that those shoes lasted. Then the light will go on.

Thing about having kids is you've gotta let them make mistakes.
Now I know NONE of us ever made any, we were all perfect and endowed with the Wisdom of the Ages from birth. I'm talking about kids today! Not us.

I struggle all the time with this with my boys. You WANT to just cut to it and tell them the way to do it. But if you do that most of the time, you're denying them the chance to learn WHY and HOW things work for themselves.

Grouse
 
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