We had a huge snow storm last night, and it's still snowing today. Worst snowfall we've had in years.

My daughter is off school until Tuesday so today she asked to go swimming with a friend. So in the car we go, and we made it off our driveway, onto the street, and then no further. We were stuck. Good and stuck.

A young neighbor (19 or 20) was shoveling his driveway, saw our predicament and came over to help. We were stuck for 30 minutes trying to get our car back in the driveway, I had determined we weren't going to try to get off our street, no way we would have made it. He stayed with us, shoveling snow from around my car, shoveling snow in our driveway, pushing the car, and wouldn't leave until we were back in our driveway.

People are always complaining about today's youth, that they're lazy, spoiled, entitled brats. Well I want to give a big shoutout to the great young people I know. I hadn't met this neighbor until today, they're new to the neighborhood, moved in a few months ago, and during the winter we all hibernate, don't really see each other until Spring comes. So he was literally helping a stranger, and he didn't have to, he chose to. He got nothing out of it other than a thank you, because I had nothing to give him, and he didn't expect anything. He helped just because it was the right thing to do.

Just wanted to share this, because I don't think society gives young people enough credit. There are a lot of great kids out there.

On that note, I'd like to get him something to say thank you, but I have no idea what to give him. My son (also 19, who also helped get us out of our bind) said to give him cash, mainly because I have no idea what his hobbies or likes are. But how much cash? I don't want to give too little, but I can't afford to give too much. I also don't think he expects anything, so anything I give will be a nice surprise. I know I don't have to, but I think he deserves something, just to show how much I appreciate what he did. Kind acts should be acknowledged.

So, what do you guys think I should get him? Any ideas?

You're a good writer - how about a nicely-written thank you note? He'd probably get a kick out of that. If it must be a "thing", teenage boys have bottomless stomachs (I used to be one myself!). A quarter, half, or whole cheesecake from your local bakery. Cash seems crass, but around here, $50 is the usual price snow shovelers get unless it's a huge storm. He seemed to go above and beyond, so maybe a little more.

$50 is a bit rich for my blood, really can't afford that. I do like the idea of a thank you note, and someone on my FB suggested a Timmies (donut shop) gift card. I really like that idea, that way he can stop in for a treat, get whatever he wants. My husbands work used to give Timmies gift cards to their employees every month. I always enjoyed getting them, was nice to be able to stop in for a hot chocolate, a donut, or a sandwich.

Going to be difficult being stuck at home for the foreseeable future. No way I'm going anywhere in my car for a while. May need to build a sled for my dogs to pull. Mush! :)

Send him a hand written thank you note with a large pizza from the local pizza shop. That's a nice gesture for a young knight who rescued two damsels in distress. Young guys love pizza, but donuts are cool too. 8D

Young people do get a bad rap, most from us oldsters that life has made cynical. Easy to forget we were young once and misjudged by strangers. Now it's our turn, and we didn't learn the lesson of not to judge. YIKES, we have become our parents? I promised myself I wouldn't do that! :(

LOL. I agree Tal. When we were young we were called lazy, delinquents, our age determined our reputation. Now we're doing it to the younger generation. But I do have to say, they are a lot more spoiled than we were at their age, iphones, ipods, online dating, every bit of information you'll ever need or want to know available with a few clicks of the button. Back in my day if you had a paper to write and you needed information, you hauled your butt to the library and spent hours researching. You didn't go online because there was no online.

But then, our parents thought the same thing, "you get to take the bus to school. When I was young I had to walk to school, 10 miles there, 12 miles back, uphill both ways. I never had new shoes, I had my brothers hand me downs which were handed down from 6 siblings before he got them. Indoor plumbing? You complain because the tile in the bathroom is cold? When I was young our bathroom was outdoors, no flush, and no heating at all".

No matter what the old generation thinks the new generation has it too easy. One day our kids will be putting down the younger generation, "hover cars!? When I was your age I had a car that had four tires, if it snowed you got stuck, and you had to run that thing on gas at $2/litre when the minimum wage was only $13/hr. We had to drive to work every day, we couldn't work at home and make a decent living. Virtual bride? Back in my day we had to meet real people online and hope they didn't turn out to be psychos from Nigeria trying to steal your money, we didn't have virtual dating and marrying virtual people back then".

Now excuse me, I have to go yell at my kids for having it easier than I did, then play some Mario Brothers on our Wii. :)

Alty, if you havent yet then maybe consider getting him a online gift card to spotify or something like that or Itunes. Im sure anything you do would be appeciated.