Tips: Teaching Kids to Earn Money
One of the kids’ favorite shows was Apple and Onion on Cartoon Network. Unfortunately, it got canceled earlier this year. Fortunately, if you have HBO Max you can stream all the episodes. It’s one of the few shows that parents will enjoy almost as much as the kids.
My oldest recently saw a set of Pokemon cards at Walmart that he just had to have. He knows the difference between needs vs. wants, but it was a strong enough want that it felt like a need. Alas, he hasn’t saved up enough allowance.
He had a solution. He would invoke the Apple and Onion episode of Tips where the characters try to perform extra tasks for a hot air balloon ride. They have one day to do it.
There are pluses and minuses to parenting a kid with a photographic memory. This is one such time.
At first, it doesn’t work well. They are a disaster at earning tips:
Eventually, they learn how to be helpful:
Earning Tips in Real Life
My son knows that I write this blog. So he said, “Hey, by reminding you about that Apple and Onion episode, I kind of helped you with your blog, right?” I responded, “Yes, that episode is an entertaining way for kids to learn how to make some extra money.” He then said, “Can I have tips?”
Yep, I gave him a tip.
I then went to look when the next new episodes are coming out and I saw that it was canceled. On Twitter, I found one of the storyboard artists put together a guide of what it was like to work on the show – complete with Apple and Onion characters.
Continuing my series of comics showing an honest look at what it's like to work in animation, here's a new one about my 2 year run on #AppleandOnion called Apple, Onion & Me!
🍎🧅🍎🧅🍎🧅🍎🧅🍎🧅
(THREAD) pic.twitter.com/EWXfAlpHgQ— Sam Spina (@Spinadoodles) November 3, 2021
My 8-year-old loves art and cartooning, so this was a win. I saw that he was selling a physical for $5, but he was also giving a digital copy away for free, but via Gumroad where you can… give a tip. So I put in my credit card number and sent a few dollars his way. Both my kids loved it.
It seems that I’m a lot like Apple and Onion before they learned how to earn tips. I’m a lot better at giving tips than receiving them.