I think I am teaching myself the value of money. I am becoming “aware” of what I spend and the fact that I am saying it “out loud” to my son is the bonus!
I found my little guy in bed with his flash light the other night counting his piggy bank money. I was furious because I could hear change falling on the floor and I was worried that his little brother would swallow it later. I took the bank away. The next day he asked for it back and told me he wanted to buy something with his money. I let him take a couple of dollars from his bank and told him that when we went grocery shopping later that day he could buy something. It was the first time he ever bugged me to go grocery shopping!
We went to the grocery store later that day and the questions came fast and furious… “Can I have this.. Can I have that!”. I said “What you buy has to match what you have in your piggy bank.” In the end he picked out a fruit rollup-ppy type box that looked gross and we headed to check out.
I confess that I did not even notice how much fruit rolls cost. I just “assumed” he would have enough money ( I knew he had a couple of dollars). R. tried to pay for his purchase first. He didn’t have enough money. Bah! The line was getting longer. My stroller holding the 15 month old brother was right beside the candy. In the blink of an eye he took down a display of tic-tacs (I could have died from embarrassment).
Crap. What do I do now? Give him the extra money? Hmmmmmm….. That would be easy. I never do anything easy. I said ” You don’t have enough. You will have to choose something else. Then I realized that would take forever! Luckily the annoyed check out lady suggested a chocolate bar on sale for 49 cents. I didn’t want him to have it but the line was growing, tic tacs were all over the floor and he had the right amount of money for it so I said “okay”. R. was thrilled. R. .
Now that I don’t have a regular income I have been trying to save money. Yesterday I cleaned the bathtub and R. said “Are you cleaning the bathtub to save money?” He knows that our cleaning lady normally cleans our tub. I hate it but I figure my son needs to see me do this (and my husband for that matter) and as soon as he gets a little older he will be helping too! I expect some chores from him at five. He has to bring his dishes to the sink, make his bed (when I remind him too) and basically help me when asked.
Allowance for Chores????
Do you give allowance? After taking many parenting classes and becoming an parenting instructor I am surprised by the answer. NO you don’t. Children should be expected to help around the house and not for payment. Everyone in a family should be expected to contribute to the family. Payment for this is a no no. Instead when your kids get to be about five or six you should start giving them a weekly allowance for stuff they want etc. The point of this is for them to learn about managing money. How much is enough? What are your thoughts?
I get many kids coming into my store.. to spend their allowance and have seen some great parenting along the way. From kids counting out their own change, to coming in for a look.. then back a month later after they had saved up. I think it is a great skill and one mom even told me to earn extra toy money her twin boys sold their own book marks : see their link & story on my blog
http://lootlady.blogspot.com/search/label/kid%20Entrepreneurs
Busy Hands…I love love love this idea – my guy is two and I’m totally going to remember that jar tip for a few years from now. Freaking awesome!
Our six year old started to get an allowance on his 6th birthday. $6 a week. We also made/decorated three banks from empty peanut butter jars. We labeled each of them. Charity 10%, Long-Term Savings 30%, Spending Money 60%.
When he gets his money, he has to put the appropriate amount into each jar right away. When his school does fundraising drives for their foster child, he is so proud to take the money from his Charity Jar to school. He also took money at Christmas and bought gifts for “poor kids” that our church distributed.
Now, I do get lots of requests for “Mommy, can I go to the store and buy that candy?” which is difficult if kid #2 is there too. Basically, we give him money so he can learn budgeting, how to count coins, how to make a purchase and interact with store clerks, and how to make some tough decisions like one Bakugan now for $7 or three Bakugans for $18 in three weeks. Maybe if more people learned about delayed gratification as children we wouldn’t have had a global financial crises. Hmmm.
Thanks Suze and Jenni – these are great suggestions. I have a iphone so I will look for the Bank of Mom app! That’s too funny but sounds really useful especially as kids get older and more annoying.. lol.
I like the age of kids for how much money they get. Better kick them out before they turn $30!
It can work! I am a “money mom” and the co-founder of Cent$ible Students, a new program to teach children how to save, spend and share – being introduced in September at TCDSB and TDSB. (Check out http://www.centsiblestudents.ca)
I also work for the Canadian Centre of Financial Literacy, so this is my passion!
I have two children ages 6 and 9 who do receive allowance (they say to pay based on their age, $6 for a 6 year old – but I think that is a bit high so I pay less!) I like the philosophy from “Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees” by Neale S Godrey that children are “Citizens of the Household” with responsibilities appropriate for their age that they are expected to do because they are part of the family/household. Therefore, they are not PAID for their chores. (But you can allow them to EARN money for things above and beyond that if you choose to) But, they do receive an allowance that they divide into three parts and put into their MoonJar (www.moonjar.ca). Some is to be spent, some saved and some shared. You determine the ratio together.
So, when they want to buy a new toy, they have to save up for it. When they want to buy a slushee at the hockey arena, they buy it. When the Me to We campaign is happening at their school, they can contribute from their Share, and we bring their savings to the bank once in a while so they can see it grow!! There are daily teachable moments – like the excitement my daughter experienced getting a deal on her Easy Bake oven at a garage sale last weekend, instead of spending $30 on it at the store. Or my son who wrote a list of the hockey cards he wanted to buy at the card show, estimated how much each would cost, and then added up how much he thought he would need to bring from his Spend jar!
I agree it takes time and consistency to teach children about money. But we take the time to read to them – financial literacy is just as important! I firmly believe that children can start very young to learn about money – we start our workshops at the SK level. I would love to share more and I encourage you to check out our website and tell your parent councils about us so that we can come to your school in the fall!!
I haven’t managed to make it work for us yet. My son just asked me for his allowance that he hasn’t collected in a year. When I mentioned the budgeting lesson to him, his response was that he has been saving it up by not asking and now wants to use some to buy a video game. If I had given it to him weekly, he probably would have spent a lot of it on junk food, vending machines or Starbucks. So is he learning the lesson? To keep track of their birthday and gift money, I got the Bank of Mom app for my iPhone. I didn’t like them having hundreds of dollars in cash lying around the house, so this way, I pay (normally by credit card) for purchases they want and “withdraw” it from their account in Bank of Mom. Looking forward to comments from moms who have made it work.