a Mary Poppins misunderstanding

Rowan has a firm grasp on the value of money. Literally he holds his money tightly in his fist or tucks it away securely in his wallet after counting it carefully. Chris and I have been making a better effort to establish the chore=allowance routine; in general he is a good helper and is happy with his reward. To coincide with the chore=allowance, we added an FHE lesson about tithing. We explained all of the virtues of paying tithing including the benefits to the church and to us as individuals. We talked about how we can help build temples and take care of our church building. We thought we did a pretty good job selling the concept but when Sunday morning arrived and we were preparing our tithing slips, Rowan refused to contribute. No matter the eternal consequence or nobility of the cause, he was determined to keep his hard earned cash where it belonged--neatly tucked in his wallet. We had only asked him for two dollars but in his mind he was like Michael in Mary Poppins, facing the bank monolith greedily grabbing for his cash. Apparently we failed to get down to brass tacks regarding the details of paying tithing; when Chris showed him how to calculate ten percent of his income, he was so excited with the concept that he not only gave up two dollars, he gave three (he had thirty dollars in his wallet but we were only factoring in the most recent twenty that he had earned when we asked for the two dollars). He proudly completed his tithing form fat with three dollars and delivered it to the bishop. For Rowan, when all reason fails try math.

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