Our 4 year old, (Grayson) noticed his 1 year old brother (Ronin) holding a new toy car.

“Mum, can I have a car like Ronin?” he asked.

“Ronin got the car because he had to have 6 shots at the doctors today” Mum explained.

Never one to miss out, he came back with, “Let’s go to the Dr’s so I can get a car?”

Hoping to close the case on what might become an issue, Erica replied, “Sure… if you want 6 shots.”

Weighing out the question for a moment he replied “hmmm… So what can I get for no shots?”

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I was rolling in laughter when Erica told me this story. You’d have to know Gray to enjoy it as much as I did, but it suffices to say that he is alway trying to figure out how stuff works.

I thought a lot about his reply for the next week. Don’t we all wish we could get our ‘toy car’ without our ‘shots’?!

I was also intrigued by what was a great step in logical process for Gray. That is the ‘process’ of determining value. In his typically inquisitive way, Gray was trying to weigh out whether the 6 shots represented good value.

He now knew what 6 shots would get him… The toy car! (Which granted is really cool), but what if ‘no shots’ got him something… maybe a plastic ring (which he really has a thing for). This would have substantially reduced the ‘return on investment’ which those shots would have offered!

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Toy Car image by bending light