Money Lessons (Part 1)
The past couple of years, we've been taking mini-steps to teach our kids about entrepreneurship and money. As some might know, we would usually assign a booth at Mommy Mundo events where our older kids can sell small items and be "kid-preneurs" for a day or two.
My boys in their booth during Expo Kid 3, 2011It's good to take the time to teach kids about money, whether it be about being wise in spending their allowance, or setting aside cash gifts given to them on special occasions, or setting up their own variation of a "lemonade stand". What's important is to use age-appropriate techniques to do so. Our own goal in exposing our kids to entrepreneurship early on is to expose them to basic principles of setting up and running a business, doing sales and marketing, give them opportunities to gain confidence in talking to people, and make them aware of what it takes to make money, and somehow make them appreciate what their Dad and I provide for them. (Yes, as the old adage says, "money doesn't grow on trees!") I'll write more about the "CoZach" kidpreneur business in another post because for now, I'd like to share with you a money lesson we taught our little girl.So Gary and our son went on a purchasing trip for the items they will sell at the CoZach booth at the recent Mommy Mundo Bazaar. They are great purchasers already and know that they should buy items that will not compete with any of our Mommy Mundo vendors, to get affordable novelty items that usually get bought as impulse items. The boys brought home a toy microphone for R which I initially disapproved of because I've been avoiding China toys because of latest findings about them. But Gary pointed out the features and said R would love it because she loves singing. I conceded after checking the toy's packaging and list of materials used to produce it deemed it safe.Gary said we will save it as an additional gift for R for Christmas BUT before we could hide it, the girl saw it already and asked if she could have it. The Kuya, wanting to save the situation said, "You have to buy it." R asked "How much?" and since Kuya wanted to make it super unaffordable for R so that we could save it for Christmas, jacked up the price to "500 pesos," Kuya answers R.Wow, 500 pesos, Where will R get that kind of money. She got stressed, knowing how "impossible" it would be to raise the funds needed to get her precious toy so I gave her a glimmer of hope and told her we will pay her for chores if she wants to really raise the amount. Oooh she got excited. Immediately wrote out a note to RESERVE the toy so Kuya wouldn't sell it at the bazaar.
She told me she has some money saved from birthday ampaos etc. so I told her to count her money so we can see how much she still needs to raise.
She illustrated in her sketch how much she had (P220.00), and while we are at work she had asked yaya to tell her how much more she needed.She drew it out to have a visual goal of the P280.00 she needed.
After doing extra chores for a week, doing some little jobs at our office, and to push it along a bit, collected loose change from everyone (hehe)
She reached her goal and got her toy!
Check out the fulfilment in her eyes!As mentioned, make sure the manner we teach our kids is age-appropriate so that they can really absorb and understand the lesson we are trying to impart.. With R, I'm happy she learned about the value of money and working proactively to reach a goal amount. More importantly, at my daughter's age of 6, I am also happy to have been able to delay gratification, challenge her emotional intelligence or EQ as they call it, teach her self-control and discipline, and allow her to experience the fulfillment of earning something out of her own efforts.Now watching her sing with the toy she bought on her own is sweet...*Will write more about our money lessons in future posts:)