What do you get a nine year old for his birthday? Toys have become babyish. Gaming systems and tablets are too consuming and addicting. In our home, we encourage hobbies that involve the outdoors or that are lucrative. We don't do allowances in our home. It might work well as a motivator in some families but we have chosen to allow our children to find opportunities outside of their chores to make money. I have noticed that my oldest is very careful how he spends his money. I am convinced that it is because a majority of the money he has in his wallet is his own hard earned cash. One of the ways that he adds cash to his pockets is by scrapping metal. He used to help his dad and get paid a portion of the profit. Now, he will tear apart old televisions on his own and get the money for the metal, himself. Needless to say, when he received a Tesoro Metal Detector for his birthday the first thing out of his mouth was, "am I dreaming?!" He was beyond excited. He kept t...