A notice came home in the “Thursday Folder” that someone’s mother, who works at a local bank, would be coming in to talk to the kids about saving money the next week.  Attached was an entry for a kid’s contest the bank is currently running.  Across the top was “I’m saving for ______________.”  There was a cartoon pig to be colored in for their entry into the contest to win one of a few savings bonds with the bank.  The children were asked to have this filled in for her talk on Tuesday.

Monday over dinner, I reminded Edie she needed to do her ‘homework’ for tomorrow’s talk. 
“I don’t want to.”
“Well, you have to.  Everyone will have theirs.”
“I don’t want to.”
“At least say what you want to save for.  You don’t have to make it fancy.”
“I don’t want to. I don’t need her to talk to me about saving my money.  I already have a savings account and I have even more money in my piggy bank.  I don’t know what I want to save it for, I just do.  Every year she comes in and talks about money and it’s always the same and I know it already.”
“Well, according to this letter, she’s going to go around the room and ask each one of you what you are saving for, so you need to say something.  Say anything.  Say ‘a Wii’.”
“I don’t want a Wii.”
“Then say ‘a new bike’.”
“I don’t want to save for a new bike.”
“Then say ‘a rock’. Say anything.  And then you can be entered in the contest.”
“I don’t want to be in the contest.”

She came home from school the next day.
“Well, what did you say you were saving for?”
“A rock.”
“Really.  Did you color the picture in?”
“No.  She kept trying to take my picture and I kept telling her I wasn’t finished.  Finally, I told her I just didn’t want to be in the contest.  And I don’t think she liked my answer.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, everyone laughed, except her.  I don’t think she got it.  I told her ‘a rock’ could be jewelry, it could be a nice cabin on top of a mountain by a stream, it could be a bunch of different things, but she didn’t get it.  Also, another boy in my class came up to me and told me he couldn’t think of something good to save for either, so he said a puppy, but he thinks my answer was better.”
“I saw that your class was on the news for this.  Was the camera crew there when you gave your answer?”
“Oh yeah.  They laughed too.  Everyone laughed but Mrs. G.  I don’t think she liked my answer.”
And with that she shrugged her shoulders and was done with the topic.

That’s my gal.  She’s saving for a rock.