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I'm not a fan of hand held games, consoles, whatever, nor wii's and playstations, but clearly children are.  Our girls haven't had any of any of them and many years ago I said to Ella that I would not buy her a DS until she had entered awkward teenage years and was being so unpleasant that I didn't want to talk to her - only then could she have one.  Whilst we are enjoying each other's company so much, I would resist.  There was one proviso, if she herself could save up enough money to buy one, then she could have one.....

So today, after over 12-18 months of saving birthday money, doing jobs and saving homework, she purchased her own DS.  A quick browse on the Target website showed they'd dropped prices by a whopping $50 - meaning she had enough for the console and inexpensive game.  There have been times when she's been down about how long it's taken to save, but hasn't dipped into her money, hasn't given up, and even when offered the difference as her birthday present, resisted and said she wanted to do it herself.

She was so proud of herself, counted out her money proudly and is enjoying a period of no restraints on how long she can play.  We're proud of her persistence, patience and that she did it all herself.  Lessohs for all of us.