The Doll's Storybook

Stories about dolls who live in our world. Although these stories are suitable for children, they should check with their parents before reading and always be careful online. Readers are invited to donate to a charity supporting pediatric cancer treatment and research. Images shown are taken by the author or from a free image website with attribution and appreciation. The author has no connection with Götz Puppenmanufaktur, but gives them credit for the amazing dolls they produce.

Friday, April 26, 2024

Money in a Jar

Veronika was concerned when she found Billy looking sad.

"What's the problem, Billy?" she asked. "You look as if you just lost your best friend."

Billy gave a big sigh. "I need a new Lego set," he said. "I've put this one together a million times already. It's no fun anymore. I would buy a new one, but I don't have any money."

Veronika sat down next to Billy. "I understand how you feel, Billy," she said. "You remember how much fun it was to put it together when it was brand new, and you want that feeling again, but now it's too easy, so it isn't fun anymore."

Billy nodded.
"You get your allowance tomorrow, don't you?" Veronika asked.

Billy nodded again. "But it won't be enough for the set I need," he said.

Veronika climbed back up on the table, so she could look at Billy. "A Lego set isn't something you need, Billy," she explained. "It's something you want. That isn't the same thing."

"Something you need is a place to live, people and dolls who love you, clothes to wear and food you can pretend to eat. It's pretend dog food for Freckles and visits to the vet if she pretends to get sick. Those things come first."
"I have all that, though," Billy said, "and a lot more, too."

"Then you're a very lucky doll," Veronika said. "Some dolls don't have all that. Some dolls are still in their boxes, waiting for a home. Some dolls are stored away in boxes because no one plays with them anymore."
"I still want the new Lego set, though," Billy sighed.

"If you don't have enough money for something you want," Veronika suggested, "you can save until you do, or you can work to earn money. You can do extra chores or do things for people and dolls who would rather pay someone to do something than to do it themselves."

"I could do that," Billy agreed, "but what if the Lego set is gone when I have enough money? That would be horrible!"

"That could happen," Veronika agreed, "but I have an idea for that, too."

"You do?" Billy asked.
"Some stores have something called 'Lay-away,'" Veronika explained. "You pay part of the cost of something, then each week you go and make a payment on it. When you have paid all the money, you can take it home."
"That's a great idea!" Billy exclaimed.

"You need to find out," Veronika said, "if the store that has this Lego set will do that and how much money you will have to pay for them to keep it for you."

"I'll call them and ask," Billy said.
"That's a good idea," Veronika said. "That will save you a trip in case they say no. Now, I have a suggestion to help you so you don't get into this fix again."
"Tell me," Billy pleaded.

"Well, you need to learn to save money, Billy," Veronika explained. "Here's what I do. When I get my allowance, or get money as a gift, or because I worked for it, I divide it up and put it into two jars. I like to put half into one jar and half into the other."

"One jar is to spend as I like," Veronika continued. "The other jar is to save. I don't touch the money in the savings jar unless it is something very, very special. Then I only take out what I need to spend for the special thing."

"I want to do that, too," Billy exclaimed.
"That's fine, and I can get you some jars to use," Veronika agreed, "but you have to decide for yourself how you are going to divide up your money. The more you put into savings, the easier it will be when there is something you really want or need to spend money on."

"I'll do that," Billy agreed. "Maybe I can think of a way to earn money, too, but I don't think anyone would let a doll babysit for them or walk their dog."

Veronika laughed. "I can just see even a small dog dragging you off down the street," she agreed, "but maybe you could walk a toy dog, or babysit a younger doll. Maybe you can sell some of your photographs," she suggested.

"You can also save money by not buying new things you don't need," Veronika pointed out. "You can often repair broken toys or torn clothes rather than throwing them out and buying new. That can save you money before you even have it. It's like getting paid not to spend."

"I wish I had a lot of money," Billy said. "I'll bet dolls who have plenty of money are happy."
"I'm sure you aren't alone in wishing that," Veronika agreed, "but money doesn't make us happy. It's important to have enough to meet our needs, but if you can buy everything you want, you lose out on a lot of the fun of life. Remember why you want a new Lego set?"

Billy thought about that for a moment. "Yes," he said. "This set is too easy, because I've put it together a million times. It's no fun anymore."
"Well," continued Veronika, "that's what it must be like to have a lot of money. Spending it stops being fun."
"I'll bet it would be fun for a while, though," Billy said.

"Maybe," Veronika said, "it would be fun for a while, but then you might start to feel like you needed more, because the things you have to buy to get that good feeling get more and more expensive. We are made to enjoy working for something," she continued. "If you don't need to work and save for the things you want, a lot of the fun goes out of life. You might stop being careful about what you spend and then not have enough later on."

"You might find you need to spend more and more to feel good about yourself," Veronika continued, "and soon you don't have enough. Some dolls go the other way," she added. "They start to love the money just for itself, and that isn't good either."

"You mean," Billy suggested, "like a doll who pretends to eat too many cookies, and it makes him pretend to be sick?"

"Maybe," Veronika said, "but more like when you see someone who has more money than you have, and you don't like them because you're jealous," she explained, "or you stop wanting to help others who have no money, even if you have plenty, because it would mean giving up some of your money."

"Like helping real children who are sick?" Billy asked. "I remember when we took all the bottles and soda cans to recycling. We took the money and sent it to people who help real children who are sick. That was one of the most fun adventures I've had so far!"

"That was fun," Veronika agreed. "We should do that again. Real children need a lot of things. Some things you can't buy with money, but some things you can."
"Well," Billy said, "I just had an idea!"
Veronika looked at him and waited, because she knew he would tell her if she waited.

"Can you get me another jar?" he asked. "I need a jar to hold the money I want to save, a jar to hold the money I can spend AND a jar for money to help children in need. I want to divide my money up evenly between the three jars."

Veronika was silent for a moment. Finally, she clapped her hands and said, "Billy, that's a great idea! I want to do that, too. You are a real treasure!"

"Thanks, Veronika," Billy said. "Now I have a new thing I can work on. This will be fun!"
"We both have a new thing to work on, and it will be fun," Veronika agreed.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

T-shirt image from UIHere.

Note to parents: Here is a good article by Warren Buffett about when and how to start teaching your children about money.

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Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Author's page on Amazon.

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Image on Mariah's yellow T-shirt used with permission, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

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Friday, April 19, 2024

Good Friends

The doorbell was ringing and there was tapping on the door, both at the same time! Billy rushed to the door. It must be some kind of emergency, for someone to ring the bell AND knock on the door.

When he got the door open, there was Nico, and Pam was climbing carefully down from the porch couch. Billy figured out who had been ringing the doorbell and who was tapping on the door.

“I have big news!” Nico exclaimed after the visitors had been let into the front hall.

“What’s up, Nico,” Billy asked.

“I was so excited,” he said, “I had to tell you right away!”

“He wouldn’t even tell me until we got here,” Pam said, “He said he wanted to tell us all at once.”

By then. Mariah and Pippa had shown up in the hallway. They could hear the excited voices and wanted to know what it was all about.

Veronika came in next and invited Nico and Pam to come and sit in the living room. “I’ll get us some tea,” she said.

From what she had heard from the kitchen, Veronika had a feeling Nico wasn’t going to be able to say what he wanted to say in a couple of words and then leave.

Nico can get up onto the couch by himself, but it takes him a long time, because his knees and elbows don't bend, so he let Billy help him climb up. By the time the dolls had settled in the living room with the others, Veronika had the tea ready; it doesn't take long to fix pretend tea.

“Well, it's about Frankie’s family,” Nico began when they were all settled and everyone had some pretend tea just the way they like it. (Frankie is the boy Nico lives with.) “You know how Frankie’s dad runs a landscaping business. The people who work for him cut the grass for people. They plant things and prune their bushes. In the winter, they come and remove the snow from the walks and driveway.”

The dolls remembered this.

“And you know,” Nico added, “that he has lots of customers and the employees who work for him depend on his business.”

The others agreed that they remembered this, too.

“And you know,” Nico went on, “that Frankie’s dad was afraid he going to have to leave his business, and we would have to leave our home because Frankie’s parents don’t have something called ‘papers.’ They were afraid they would have to pack up and move away.”

The other dolls nodded. Some of them imagined the family would have a lot of bags to pack, even more than Jolena has when she travels for skiing.

“It isn’t like the papers that go into the recycling,” he explained, because that was what he had thought at first. He had wondered why they couldn’t just keep these papers instead of throwing them out.

“These are special papers that say they are allowed to be here in town and live in our home,” he explained. “It has something to do with laws. I found out that laws are like rules everyone has to obey, not just the dolls in your class.”

“So this is where the big news comes in,” Nico went on. “One of the customers of Frankie’s dad,” he said, “is something called a lawyer (LAW-yer).” He said it carefully, because it was a new word for him.

Pam thought he was staring at something across the room. She looked to try to figure out what he was looking at that was so interesting, but she realized he was really just trying to concentrate, so he could remember how it was explained to him.

“A lawyer is a person whose job it is to know all about laws,” Nico explained when he had his thoughts collected. “If someone breaks a law and gets into trouble, or if they didn’t break the law, and the police think they did, they might need a lawyer to help them, or if they need to do something and want to be sure that what they do doesn’t break any laws, a lawyer can tell them if they can do it and how to do it without breaking any laws. You go to their office and sit in a chair. You answer their questions, and then they tell you if there is a way they can help.”

“So this lawyer is going to help?” Billy asked.

“Sort of,” Nico agreed. “I found out that there are lots of different kinds of lawyers, just like lots of different kinds of doctors. This customer is the kind of lawyer who works with people who have problems with their taxes (TAK-ses).”

“Taxes are money human people pay the government so the government can take care of things everyone needs,” Nico explained. Nico’s boy, Frankie, had explained all this to him, and Nico knew someone had explained it to Frankie. “Taxes aren't a problem for Frankie’s dad, though.”

“So how can this lawyer help Frankie’s dad?” Pippa wanted to know.

“Well,” Nico said again, “this lawyer knows another lawyer who is the kind that does immigration (im-uh-GRAY-shun) law. She helps people who want to come to this country or who are here and don’t have the right kind of papers to stay or who don’t have any papers at all.”

“It will cost some money,” Nico told them. “It isn’t just the lawyer, but the court costs something. (The court is the part of the government that takes care of making sure everyone obeys the law.) It could cost more money than Frankie’s family has, unless they sell their car.”

“The lawyer who is a customer,” Nico went on, “talked with the other customers he knows, and they are all going to donate some money to help pay the costs of the immigration lawyer.”“Then,” Nico continued, “I found out that the people who work for Frankie’s dad are going to have a car wash to raise money to help pay, too. People whose cars need washing can pay them to do it.”

“It sounds to me like Frankie’s dad has a lot of friends,” Veronika pointed out.

“Yes,” Nico agreed, “but it’s more than just being friends. The landscaping business looks after people’s trees, bushes and lawns in the spring and summer,” he said. “If Frankie's family has to go away, people might have to mow their own lawns. If they’re to busy or can’t do that kind of work, they have to pay someone to do it for them.”

“The company makes sure the sprinkler system is working in the spring, too,” Nico explained, “and in the fall, they come and blow all the water out, so it won’t freeze and bust the pipes. I don’t know how people can do that for themselves. You need special equipment, I think.”

“In the winter, they come to your house and plow the snow,” Nico continued, while everyone listened. “Sometimes the city pays them to plow the streets, too, if we get more snow than the city snowplows can handle.”

“The customers and the city would have to find someone else to do that, if Frankie’s family moves away, or do it themselves. That’s hard work, if you don't have your own snow blower machine,” Nico pointed out.

“You told us the employees need Frankie’s dad, too,” Billy pointed out. “They would have to get new jobs. Most of them have families to feed.”

“Yes,” Nico agreed, “and they really like working for Frankie’s dad.”

“When is the carwash?” came a voice from the kitchen. It was The Writer. She had been listening to the conversation going on in the living room.

“It’s next Saturday,” Nico called out. They’re doing it in the driveway in front of our house, where the office is.”

“My car needs washing,” said the voice. “I’ll be there!”

“Thank you!” Nico called out.

“I see why you’re so excited, Nico,” Veronika said. “It’s a big problem, and it looks like Frankie’s family might have some hope of a solution now.”

All of the dolls thought about that. It would be nice to know Nico would still be here for a while. They all liked Nico, but also it would be nice to know that Frankie’s family might not have to worry about having to leave.

It would be nice to know that the people who worked for the landscaping business wouldn’t need to look for new jobs.

It would be nice to know that the customers of the landscaping business wouldn’t have to cut their own grass in the summer or shovel their own snow in the winter.

It would be nice to know that sprinkler systems all over town wouldn't burst when winter comes again and everything freezes.

It was nice to know that lots of people were kind and liked to help.

Those people must have grown up with wonderful dolls who set good examples for all of them.

“Let’s tell all our neighbors about the car wash,” Mariah suggested then. “I’ll make some flyers for us to share. Those are sheets of paper with information on them,” she told the other dolls. “If we let lots of people know about it, the carwash will make lots of money! I’ll run them off on the printer, and Pippa and Pam can help me fold them.”

The two smaller dolls nodded and said that they would love to help.

Nico said he would see if Pauly would help him take the flyers to the houses he could walk to around his home (you have to bend your knees to ride a bike, and Pauly was too small for a bike), and Billy said that he and Emil could put the flyers into the baskets of their bicycles and deliver them to all the houses in the neighborhood that were farther away, on the other side of the woods. They could take their favorite shortcut through the woods.

It made all the dolls feel good to know that they could help Nico’s family!

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

Nico: Götz Hannah-Zoé at the Ballet

Pam: Götz Little Kidz Springtime, from My Doll Best Friend

Packed bags photo from Missy’s Weblog, cropped.

Newspapers photo from Recycling Works, cropped.

Immigration law office photo from Woog Law, cropped.

Money photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.

Carwash photo from Automobile Hive, cropped.

Man mowing lawn photo from Live Strong, cropped.

Sprinkler blow out photo from 4 Seasonal Services, cropped.

Truck plowing snow photo from 4 Seasonal Services, cropped.

Landscaping truck in front of house photo from 4 Seasonal Services, cropped.