Determination and Goals

There is nothing like having an end goal to motivate anyone. Especially kids. My son is keen, if not besotted, with the game Minecraft. He plays it on his iPad when he is at mine, but decided that, when at his Dad’s house, he wants a PlayStation to play in on. Minecraft would be so much cooler, apparently, on a bigger screen. So off he went to look up all the prices. If there is one thing I have tried to bring him up to understand is that money doesn’t grow on trees. Oh, and to always look for the best price as the first price you see isn’t always the best price out there.

He checked out all the local shops and also checked to see if any of his friends were selling theirs. Rather despondent, he came to me saying he had given up on the idea as he couldn’t afford it. That prices were higher than he thought and he didn’t have enough money saved up. So, it was time for a plan.

First I asked him if he had checked out the prices online at places like VoucherBin – He did some more looking and came back rather pleased with himself that he had found a voucher in the Art & Entertainment section for money off, not only for games, but games consoles too.  He nearly had enough to get a system, as long as he used one of the vouchers.

We worked out a plan. He could use some of his savings, but also get him to help his Dad at work and me around the house to make up the rest of the money. Never has a kid been so happy to wash the kitchen floor and put the bins out. At the weekends, he would help his Dad, then get up early in the morning to help me. I would remind him it was for his PlayStation and that he soon would be playing Minecraft on a big screen. Fortunately, he managed it. At last, the day came when he had earned enough and purchases were made.

Never seeing Minecraft before, he, of course, had to show me and explain all about it. Not too sure what I was expecting. My first thought, modern technology has come so far since the days of Pong, which was just two lines and a dot that beeped as it went back and forth. Minecraft is all squares. Not fancy graphics or mind blowing effects. Just cubes. It’s a game where there is no high score to get or fair maiden to rescue. You just break blocks and place blocks where you want them. All the blocks are different colours and represent the different materials like water, trees, stone etc.

Written by Guest Writer

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