One of the life’s lessons I hope to teach my two boys (4 years & 10 months) is about personal finance. While I want them to be able to make their own choices in the future, I also want to educate them early in life on the value of a dollar. I believe that our schools do a very poor job teaching our children about finances and money. When teens go away to college, the are exposed to all sorts of credit card companies offering free tee shirts and prizes just for signing up. These cards are then used to go out and buy electronics, toys, beer, food, etc. I have seen close friends become in debt just from signing up for these cards when going off to college. My goal as a father is to prepare my children for these traps in life and to provide them with the knowledge to make good decisions.
My 4 year old son has been doing odd jobs and chores around our house and his grandparents house for the past 6 months. He likes to help with things like yard work and around the kitchen. Every time he helps us and his grandparents, we give him a quarter or two for helping out. He has since saved over $25 in odd change from his efforts. The other day we were shopping at Lowe’s and he saw a child size wheel barrow that he “had to have”. We told him that if he wanted it bad enough that he could use his money that he saved to buy it, but that he wouldn’t have any money left. He told us that he understood and that he would just have to keep working harder and more often to save up for his next purchase. It almost brought tears to my eye that he actually got the concept of saving and spending. Not too bad for a 4 year old. When we got home from the store, we got out his change and sat down with him to count it. He helped us count it (another helpful tool that money can offer for a child) and then we got back in the car and headed back to the store to make the purchase. It took us about 20 minutes at the self-check out dropping in all the change, but he did it himself and had the biggest smile on his face!
After we got home, he got the wheel barrow out and asked me what jobs he could do for me with it so he could start earning his money back. I felt proud being a parent this weekend!
Sincerely,
passivefamilyincome
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Ralph 05.19.08 at 11:01 pm
Great post! It’s certainly touching to hear about such a young child making thoughtful financial decisions, especially when his decision to buy something was also based on his ability to use his purchase to make more money.
Sounds like the making of a smart entrepreneur there.