A letter from Tony.
Welcome to 2021 and a year that everyone is holding so much expectation for.
The start of every new year is usually filled with hope and motivation to make this year better than the last. To stick to those new years’ resolutions beyond the first week or month and a promise to ourselves to do things ‘better’.
As we have ticked over into February, how are you tracking? Have you settled into your 2021 routine and feeling hopeful about the year ahead or are you feeling that you have lost your new year mojo already?
My family are back into the groove of our routine; juggling our Fornaro commitments each day while also managing the school and activities schedule for our year 1’er, Sofia.
Sofia has had a wobbly front tooth for weeks. We have witnessed her experiment with an array of creative eating techniques to avoid any tooth contact. In the past week the tooth has loosened to the point its hanging by a thread, wobbling around her mouth like a bobble head when she talks. This poor tooth is being neglected; it has not enjoyed a good brush for weeks and it is quite possibly growing a strain of bacteria that may be the cure for COVID.
Sofia carries a zip lock bag in her school uniform pocket in readiness to secure the tooth should it spontaneously leap from her mouth. She is hoping for another windfall from the tooth fairy and cannot risk losing the tooth. When her other front tooth fell out before Christmas, the tooth fairy mistook a $50 note for a $5 note while rummaging around in the draw half asleep at 4am, resulting in our six year old dancing around the house like Fatman Scoop when she discovered the $50 in the morning.
We have tried to encourage her to wiggle the tooth to release the last thread, knock it gently with her glass or spoon; anything really to get it out, to no avail. My wife Annie has been entrusted by Sofia to assist in the tooth wiggling duties, which, given my wife is a ‘fainter’ when it comes to anything medical is hilarious in itself to watch.
This morning, while witnessing Sofia attempt to suck her yoghurt and fruit parfait through a straw for breakfast and then refuse to brush the wobbly tooth again, I turned to an analogy about depreciating assets to try and convince Sofia to either give the tooth some love or set it free. I spoke about how a month ago her tooth was probably worth $5 as it was clean, shinny, well cared for and from a good home. Now however, the value of her asset has depreciated as she has failed to provide the same level of care and maintenance over the past few weeks to the tooth. This means her asset is most likely only worth $3 now, and if the tooth remains, with little to no care from her, she could see the value of her asset plummet to $2, $1 or even nil. My attempt to pragmatically apply a financial principle to coerce Sofia to act fell short. Her response to me was simply, ‘can I please watch my Ipad Daddy?’, sure honey, go for it.
Regards, Tony
