Happy 9th birthday, little one!

Dear Raunak,

I skipped writing one last year because I had a writer's block. Just could not get myself to pen anything down. This year I don't have one and so here is your post!

I can't believe you are a tweenager now! Watching you grow up is the most magical thing in my life. Every new phase brings new excitement, new challenges and discovery of emotions in me that I did not know existed.

To prepare you for what's to come in future, I have a few things lined up for you this year that will be fun for you but nerve wrecking for me. All kids and parents go through this and it's our turn now.

You will start getting a small weekly allowance from today. And here is the elaborate plan around it.
We will divide the allowance in 3 parts. You can spend the 1st part however you want as long as you keep the bills and update a spreadsheet with the details. We will go over them every month. The 2nd part will be savings. Papa will give you a few options on how to save and you can decide how to use that money at the end of the year. The 3rd part will be spent on charity. It's time you start looking for a cause you feel strongly about and get involved regularly. Grandma will help you finding the right one that you can start volunteering with.

You can start earning extra allowance by doing these tasks for the house if you want to: Wash the car during weekends, help grandma with springcleaning of the house during special occasions (birthdays, Christmas, Easter, etc.), help in cooking when we have house parties. You will get 50% more allowance for the week when you do one of these.

If history is any indication of how future would be, my dad did a lot of things like these when I was a kid. Nothing worked. Let's read this post a few years later and see how disciplined you turn out to be. I have a feeling you will be much better than me.

Finally, you will get an empty shoebox. You can keep anything you want in it and I promise no one will ever look into it. It will be your personal space. I had a shoebox for you last year but later decided to wait for one more year before I give it to you. You are ready now.

Lets talk about the finer details of all of this after the birthday party. I hope you are as excited as I am! Happy birthday, sweetie pie.

Oh and I really hope you will grow out of this birthday cake cutting with noisy kids and lots of mess next year. I am not particularly good at hosting/attending kid's parties. Honest confession.

Love,
-Mummy

Rest of the birthday posts are here