Claire has been wanting an iPod Touch for a long time, mostly because a few other kids at school have them.  She occasionally likes to use my iPhone to do some drawing with Flowpaper or the like, but she has largely lost interest in games like Angry Birds.  However, inspired by her friends, Claire wanted an iPod Touch, perhaps more as an accessory than a useful or fun device.

Kit and I were skeptical of Claire having an iPod Touch, but seeing a nice lesson in saving and delayed gratification, we said she could buy one herself.  We offered her a used one for a marked down price of $75 rather than $200 new.   We told Claire is was actually an old iPhone, but she did not mind.  Claire quickly agreed and proceeded to save up her $5 weekly allowance, which was already accumulating.  She did not spend any allowance for months, quickly passing up sticker and other treats without a thought.  It was just like she didn’t have allowance money.  Each week when we gave her $5, she disinterestedly put it right away in her savings without an apparent thought.

Then suddenly she had $75.  Kit in particular, and me to some extent, concerned about Claire doing too much iPod Touch.  We didn’t want her to stop doing all her playing and art projects.  So one contingency on selling her the iPod Touch was a contract so we were all on the same page.  It did not specifically limit Claire’s time on the iPod Touch, but it did leave room to do

that if we had to.  Claire happily signed the contract and handed over her (sort of) hard earned money.  It was quite an accomplishment for Claire to save up for so long, and she made it seem effortless.

Now that Claire has earned her iPod Touch, she basically doesn’t use it.  It just sits there.  She takes it around a little bit as an accessory and likes to sometimes take pictures.  She has yet to play a single game of Angry Birds.