Two Dollar Bill

Yes, they still make them, and a $2 Bill can be a fun incentive to getting to 'Yes.' Stop me if you've heard this one before. For compliance and validation, my son loves to have something concrete to pin his achievements on. (Who doesn't?) We've often gone visual to help him really see what to expect when simple transitions have proven difficult. Another entry, another time.

This time, it's the index card with, say, ten empty boxes. When we effectively get to Yes, he earns a Star or a Checkmark. Different colors from highlighters is what we've used lately. And when one is filled, it's onto the next card. In the past, he could trade (x) amount of cards for a prize. This echoes/reinforces behavior from Kindergarten and now, 1st Grade. When he delivers, he gets positive encouragement; something tangible.

Benefits include: discussions of the different U.S. dollar bills. Who's on what? It's fun and it opens things up that we both seem to find of interest. He can think money, while he's learning who's who. We've done the One Dollar bill, of course. But who's on the Two? And what's on the back of the Two? (And what used to be on the back?) It's fun to peel this onion. It's history, and it's a change of pace. Most fun is how it allows us to interact. Sometimes researching online and sometimes just jawing about what we learn while we get to the Goal. And this little adventure led me to dig out my old coin collection. He might not pick up on how the silver content changed in the quarters and dimes after 1964, but then again, he might surprise me in a month or two about this.

I hadn't look at it in years. It brought out stories of how I built my collection, how my mom helped spark the hobby. When we saw an old Peace Dollar that had gotten slimy from an old spongy holder, it was a great way to show how to take care of the coin. Ah, the family silver. The whole mini-adventure sprung from a calm, quiet place that started with him earning a reward. Here's to collecting more times like these.