Whenever we do travel over the summer I am surprised by the variety of toys that the children are exposed to which results in them feeling they just have to have the newest toy or games. There is always a new invention, instead of a regular helicopter now there is the roller copter (a helicopter that rolls along the wall).
They turn towards you, change the pitch of their voice and ever so sweetly say “Mummy, daddy please can you buy me this new toy?” The requests only get more intense as they grow older. While watching television there is always an advertisement and by the time the advert is over, they are asking if they can have the toy.
I decided to try the method of avoiding the toy stores in the malls and Toys ‘R’ Us till closer to the end of the summer in an attempt to reduce the number of times I say No. I have said “No” to their toy buying requests so many times that they gave me the label “The No Mummy”
All the attempts to teach financial skills by telling them we cannot buy everything they want because money doesn’t grow on trees, or that they already have many toys didn’t seem to always work. By the way who can say no all the time?
So you might wonder how by the end of the summer we have converted our children to being financially savvy? They now check the price of products before anyone buys and have started asking us how they can make more money?
Handling Money
It started with having their own money – the truth is you learn best through experience. Just like when learning how to drive you can only become a good driver when you get behind the wheel.
The children got some holiday money from their aunties and we told them that they would use their money to pay for somethings and use it to buy the toys that they want. We told them when it is finished that’s it.
This was the magic trick! Having money in their possession changed the whole game and gone were the arguments “that is too expensive for a toy.”
We got them involved in paying for things and during a drive from state to state they were both in charge of paying for toll. By the time we asked for the fourth payment, they exclaimed exasperated “Ah ah do they want to finish our money?” we used this as a teachable moment and talked about how the toll is used by the Government to maintain the roads.
When it came to shopping, they would read out the price of the item before deciding whether they were interested in buying it or not. We suddenly started hearing them say things like, “that toy looks boring and I am sure it is not even fun.” They took their time to find the one item they each really wanted and then decided to spend on it.
When I knew we were definitely on the right track was when they started having conversations wondering how they were going to make more money. The older one started suggesting that they make things and sell to their classmates!
As their dad told them, that is the big question – how to make more money. Children truly learn best through experience. So now we have young entrepreneurs in the house looking for ways to earn (we did have to let our younger one understand he can’t just take money from our wallet to get more money).
Learning to use your talents to earn can never start too early.
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