Rewards(c)

Rewards ©

By

Michael Casey

Well the wife just gave me a haircut, so I’ll have to reward her, she did ask for £10, the same price as a haircut would be here in Birmingham. That defeats the purpose of saving money, but it is Shanghai logic, or is it female logic?

So how will I reward her? I may buy her a bar of chocolate in Aldi for 30p, thus still saving £9.70, or I could be generous and buy 3 bars of chocolate for 90p, then each of my 3 girls can have a bar each. I can get it on the way home from the school run, when I get some more bread. We are a bread and rice family after all.

Which brings me to chocolate, why do girls love chocolate so much, is it because it’s more reliable than men, the weaker sex. Or is chocolate a sin which doesn’t leave any regrets, 9 months later. I’ll let you ponder that yourselves.

Getting back to rewards, rewards are a good idea, you’ve cleaned the house and you want to put your feet up and ring your mates in Taiwan, well in our house anyway. So the phone call is a reward, talking is nice, even if there is a 7 hour time difference, and your friend was about to go to bed.

Sorry for the interlude, I just rewarded myself with Red Leicester on toast with a slice of ham underneath. You can use any other meat under the cheese, or even something from your local Polish Deli, see you didn’t know I’m a “chef” too.

Yes, rewards, having my reward, put me off telling you about your rewards. You can reward yourself for all things great and small. I gave myself a nice very cheap and cheerful automatic watch after I had my procedure for my hip last Autumn. I am a lover of watches after all.

Having a reward breaks up the day, a cup of green tea here, or a biscuit there. A sit in the sun enjoying your garden, watch out for those squirrels though, they are garden pirates after all.

If you are studying for those exams you must reward yourself while you revise. My nephew is revising right now for his A levels. So you put slips of paper though-out those text books, anybody remember the Abbot for Physics?  Then when you reach that slip of paper you get whatever you wrote on the slip of paper. A biscuit or a bar of chocolate, a cup of tea, and so on. For every 150 pages you read you are entitled to a reward. Don’t drown in sea of words and books, reward yourself and your mind.

My girls are not allow to play on Utube until they have given me 100 pages. Computer or TV is a reward, once the work is done, then and only then my girls get a reward. My small daughter read 6 books in the Easter holidays just gone, then she could do what she liked. For her the Dolls house is the thing she adores. She will end up as an interior designer as she changes everything so often. And her big sister will be an architect, judging by her tv viewing habits. And to think it all started as a simple reward.

So use rewards to your own advantage, to your kids advantage too, then you are motivated to do what you have to do. It’s always nicer if when you’ve done all the work you can enjoy the play. So you keep Cadburys’ Crunchies  in the fridge next to the Stella Artois. The tv remote you hide somewhere, not in the fridge but somewhere else. Then when the kids have done their homework you can all have your just rewards.

Which reminds me, it’s time for my afternoon green tea, it isn’t a reward, it’s more like hard work, but it’s good for me. Or maybe I'll get my reward in Heaven