The moral hazard of 3-year old boys

My three year old son Mathias had an accident in his kindergarden the other day. He fell from a tall chair and as a result hurt is lip so his mom had to take him to the emergency room.

Luckily he did not have to any stitches in his lip and he took the whole thing very well (much better than his parents). After having been to the emergency room my wife took Mathias to a toyshop to buy him a small present because he had taken the whole thing so well. He got himself a laser gun.

When I put him to bed at night we had a talk about the events of the day and as always we talked about what he was going to do the next day:

Me: “It has been a rather special day today, but what will you be doing tomorrow?”

Mathias: “I will go to the hospital!”

Me (in shock): “You are not going to the hospital – you are going to kindergarden”

Mathias: “No, I am going to hospital and then mom will buy Spiderman for me in the toyshop!”

See that is moral hazard for you!

HT Vlad

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4 Comments

  1. Clever, without hurting himself again, he found the way to be awarded . Your should have told him, “…..listen to me, Mathias, the only way to go to the hospital again is to fall from the chair again……”.
    AG

    Reply
    • cthorm

       /  June 18, 2013

      Never to soon to teach the kids about revealed preference!

      Reply
  2. Ravi

     /  June 18, 2013

    Good news Lars – young Mathias will be able to take care of you and your wife in your old age when he is the head of a too-big-to-fail bank! 🙂

    Reply
    • Ravi,

      His mom insists he should become a doctor! But I still have hopes that he will either become a professional footballer or an economist. But god forbid he will become a banker like his dad;-)

      Reply

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