Family Matters

Duncan's Home.

Everyone was delighted by Adam's gift.

"Dad, let's forget about Duncan number 5, but please, please don't let there be Duncan number 6."

Adam advised, "You guys used to have an easier time with Teddy and me helping out, but next year Teddy and I are going to college and won't be home anymore. Are you planning to hand Charlie and Duncan No. 5 over to Gabe?"

"Don't call him Duncan No. 5, it sounds awful to call him Duncan No. 6."

Amy's mother, Amy, interrupted with displeasure, "Bob and I have already thought of names. Toby will be the boy, and Angela will be the girl. And of course, Gabe won't have to take care of her; I'll take care of her myself."

"Toby?"

Adam's lips twitched, and he thought to himself, "Is this a cricket or Spider-Man?"

The first image that comes to his mind when he hears this name is from the Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon and Howard bet on the species of a cricket after hearing its chirping. Unable to convince each other, they take the cricket, named ' Toby, ' to the school's entomologist for identification.

This entomologist, obsessed with his studies, lost his wife to someone else with all his assets, and his research funding was cut. He was so angry he wanted to lash out at everything and everyone, complaining that naming a cricket ' Toby ' was incredibly stupid.

Sheldon disagreed with the final ruling.

After the entomologist roared with a ferocious expression, waving his arms and shouting hoarsely, even Sheldon, the king of verbal sparring and the epitome of a contrarian, directly admitted defeat. He even admitted defeat to Howard, whom he looked down on the most, losing his treasured collection of the Flash comics kept in a bank safe.

Toby? What a silly cricket name!

That sentence and that tone are truly unforgettable.

"Mom, aren't you going to work anymore?"

"Going to work or taking care of the child, taking care of the child is definitely more important."

Mom Amy complained, "Besides, wasn't I taking care of the kids all along before Charlie was born?"

"How about we hire a nanny?"

Adam suggested.

In his view, being a full-time housewife is not a good thing, no matter how loving you are now, the risk of problems arising in the future is very high.

For example, the family of Adam's friend Sheldon.

Sheldon's mother was a housewife and didn't work at the church for very long; she quit after accompanying Sheldon to college.

In the near future, Sheldon will witness his father chatting with a strange aunt about life and ideals—an inappropriate and cringe-worthy scene—and develop the habit of knocking three times beforehand to give the person inside time to prepare...

For example, those Desperate Housewives!

So, to play it safe, Adam decided to persuade his mother, Amy, to keep her job and hire a nanny to take care of the child; it's not like they don't have the money.

I don't trust the nanny to take care of me.

Mom Amy frowned.

"What's there to worry about?"

Adam retorted, "If he can take care of us, then he can certainly take care of the nanny. As for worrying, we still have Gabe us; he's better than anyone at simply supervising!"

The third brother Gabe, is a troublemaker, but on the other hand, having him keep an eye on others to prevent them from causing trouble is a good use of his talents.

The second child, Teddy, had something to say about this. She had gone to great lengths to deceive her parents and then had Adam take care of Charlie so that she could have her crush, Spencer, to "study" together.

But at every crucial moment, Gabe would appear between them, interrupting the ambiguous atmosphere, leaving Teddy seething with hatred yet helpless.

To say that Gabe didn't do it on purpose would be a lie.

"If you share part of the cost of hiring a nanny with me, I'll have no problem."

Gabe immediately made a request.

In the United States, children typically earn pocket money by doing chores, and school-aged children can also do some light work.

Newsboys in United States communities are a unique sight.

In the original timeline, both Little Sheldon. and Georgie Jr.. did it, but one did it to earn money and even damage the refrigerator, while the other did it to earn pocket money to buy a Playboy.

Every day before dawn, I get up and stand at my door. The newspaper company sends cars to deliver newspapers to each community. When they see a newspaper boy in a community, the car doesn't stop and just throws down a stack of newspapers for that community.

The newsboys took the newspapers home, folded them neatly, and then delivered them to each household.

The service fee is paid by families in the community who subscribe to the newspaper, and it is usually settled weekly.

A good attitude and timely delivery make subscribing families happy, leading to higher service fees.

Conversely, there will be fewer.

Parents are also happy to see this happen, firstly because it helps develop their children's practical skills, and secondly because it gives them a clear understanding of how difficult it is to earn money, laying a foundation for them to better integrate into society in the future.

After a few days of working, Little Sheldon was so irritable and argumentative that he got a scolding from his father and realized he shouldn't be like that.

However, he didn't continue doing it in the end. Instead, he outsourced it to the silly kid next door, became a capitalist for a while, and made money while he was asleep.

As for why the silly kid next door doesn't just become a newsboy and collect all the fees?

Stupid!

PJ, who was Adam a newspaper boy, later took on more demanding household chores like mowing lawns when he grew up.

Georgie Jr., Little Sheldon's older brother, first made money by buying and selling small items, then repaired cars, sold fishing gear and hardware, and made a lot of money. He became arrogant, so much so that when his father asked him to mow the lawn, he refused to do it and even paid someone to do it, which resulted in his father giving him a beating.

Earning money through housework is secondary; what parents value most is cultivating a sense of responsibility and practical skills.

Otherwise, wouldn't that be exploiting child labor?

"Make a deal."

"Dad Bob is tempted," Bob said.

As for Gabe's concerns about the safety of taking care of children, he wasn't actually that worried, because he wasn't much better at it than Gabe.

Adam's original form, PJ, was completely adorably clumsy because of being tossed around by Bob. In fact, he had tossed around almost every child in the family, so much so that when he tossed Charlie, Amy just complained, "Again?"

He didn't actually want Amy to be a housewife anymore.

Can Amy, a housewife dressed in loose loungewear, and Amy, a nurse dressed in white or pink, be the same person?

The level of attraction is on a completely different level, okay!

"We'll see."

Mom Amy rolled her eyes.

Overwhelmed by maternal instincts, she would always choose her children over work.

"Bob, have you booked your plane ticket? Tickets are in high demand during Christmas, so it's best to book early."

"Well."

Bob's face fell.

He had originally planned to delay as long as possible, and then just say there were no tickets left, so that he wouldn't have to go to Palm Springs and be looked down upon and ridiculed by his mother-in-law.

But now it seems there's no chance.

"I'll book the tickets right away."

Seeing their father Bob with his back to their mother, looking worried, Adam and the others laughed.

Adam didn't mention that he paid for the ticket himself.

He's not as arrogant and foolish as Georgie Jr..

It's okay to spend a lot of money on gifts for family.

But it's my dad's responsibility to earn money to support the family and spend money on plane tickets to take the whole family to my mother-in-law's house for Christmas. It's also his dignity and pride as the head of the family, and it's something that absolutely cannot be challenged.