With red cheeks and the corners of her mouth down, she stood looking at the shelf. ‘But I don’t have enough money for that, Mom,’ she tells me. We’ve been in the toy store for 1.5 hours now and it doesn’t look like we’re going home anytime soon. There are some toys in the shopping cart, but we haven’t seen everything in the toy store yet, I know there are still important decisions to be made. I turn to Wieger and whisper “now the money lesson begins.
Sometimes I feel like a walking debit card for our children. They seem to think that all they have to do is make a noise and we buy them something. Therefore, we decided to approach this differently so that they will learn more about money and its value.
Our children are 8 and 10 years old and from grade 3 they get pocket money, every week, hand cash. In the beginning, every time I was in Action they bought frills like erasers or small stuffed animals and before I knew it, our house looked like an Action branch. Although we believe they should be allowed to decide for themselves what to spend their money on, I found that this did not work. They didn’t really get excited about a purchase; it became automatic. Therefore, I thought of something else.
They divide their pocket money (and birthday money) among three pots:
Pot 1: This is what I want to spend now
Pot 2: This is where I save for the short term
Pot 3: This is for later (this is where they get interest from us)
They may use the “this is what I want to spend now” jar twice a year to buy something for themselves. That way they have just a little more money, can buy something they are really happy with and just a little better suited to their needs. The amount set aside for this purpose is the amount they can spend, nothing more.
So the lesson always begins when that amount runs out and they have to choose. At that point you see and feel that they begin to see the value of money. They had to save for it for a long time so they want to buy something from it that has value to them and makes them happy. Sometimes they do not have enough for what they would like to have, then they learn that not everything is for sale when there is an end to your money.
It’s funny to see that they both take the lessons differently. Where our daughter then opts for cheaper toys than what she originally wanted, my son (reluctantly) takes his money back home and prefers to continue saving so he can really buy what he wants.
Then, after 1.5 hours, we walk out of the toy store with two happy children. They had to scramble, calculate and choose, but in the end they made their choices and stayed within their budget. Mission accomplished, money lesson learned. On to the next lesson.
