One of the perks of homeschooling is that we never have the need to give our kids money because everything they need is already inside the house. Want a snack? Just go to the kitchen and make a sandwich or grab a glass of juice. Want to do arts? Just go to your arts supplies box, we've already bought everything you need from papers to coloring materials and everything in between. Want to have some playtime, we'll just go out to the park, bring some food and we'll have a picnic. There is very minimal reason for parents to have to give money to the child.
But for our homeschooling journey, I included money handling skills to her life skills training. Every start of our school week, I give my daughter a fixed amount of money that she has to decide on how to use. But before I even get her to handle that money, I had her read the kiddie version of "The Richest Man in Babylon" first. This kiddie book was a retelling by Rose Fres Fausto, a mom who advocates purposeful parenting and financial well being. I read this aloud to her when she was 5 and I included it in our Math lessons for her Grade 1 and now, it's in her free-reading books which she reads every now and then during her free time.
The gist of the book is that there are 3 laws of money that one needs to understand if they want to become rich. Pay yourself first, only get into a business if you understand it fully, and lastly, to make your money earn more money thereby getting your money to work for you." Now my kid is just 6 and I'm not expecting her to grasp everything in the book. But like I said in my previous posts about serving a full feast of knowledge to our children, they will take what they can. Evidently, my kid has one takeaway from the lesson.
~ Pay yourself first ~
Every time I hand her allowance to her, "she decides how much she's going to keep in her pay yourself jar and how much to put in her wallet. Now, her "pay yourself" jar is her coin bank, which I made for her when she was 3 years old. She has had the habit of putting money in there long before I read her the kiddie version of George Samuel Clason's book.
This habit was just fully formed and empowered by the book. Sometimes she decides on putting all her allowance in the jar because she says she has enough in her wallet already. (Honestly, sometimes this kid has more money in her wallet than I do in mine.) Now this money she keeps on her coin bank is not for something she wants to buy in the future. She just keeps it in there because that's hers to keep. Once we crack open her coin bank this year, I'll have her come with me to open a bank account thereby teaching her a little about having her money earn more money through the bank's interest rates.
Practice Self-discipline.
Self control, self restraint, self discipline. This is a habit that is quite challenging to form on children. But just like any habits that we want to form in our children, all it needs is consistency. Once my daughter sees she has money in her wallet and we pass by National Bookstore at the mall - or any other bookstore for that matter - she can't help but browse through the books and look for something she want to read at home.
And just like any other children, my daughter also loves the playhouse. As parents we have that voice in our heads that says "go ahead and let her, she deserves it because she's been such a good girl." And she does but if this happens every time we go to the mall, (which we do weekly because her ballet school happens to be right beside one mall here at our place) her wallet will go empty. I know I might be asked "Why do you have her use her money for things she wants to buy?" The answer is simple. We want her to learn how to take responsibility of her own wants.
A lot of children grow up not understanding how their parents had to budget their money for the family. And when they grow up, they too, have a hard time figuring out what needs to be done in the financial aspect of their life. But I'm not just leaving my 6 year old daughter alone to figure out things and just feel sorry for herself when she does not have enough money in her wallet to buy the things that she wants. We took one more lesson on the book for this.
If you want to buy something, check your money. If the amount can afford 10 times the item, go for it.
This one might be a bit too confusing for a kid at first. But with patience and consistency, the little person will understand. She once wanted to buy a Harry Potter book that has a wand in the package. Now, she really wanted that wand because it was as described in the book she read. Now she looked at the price. Instinctively, she looked at her wallet. It turns out, she has enough money to buy the item. Then she said "But my wallet will be empty and my allowance is only $$ amount." It seemed like she was thinking about buying it at the time but in reality, she was just calming herself down. She then decided to let go of the book.
I could have bought it to her just because I was happy with her decision making and her level of maturity. But if I did, that would only confuse her. And besides, I don't bring that much money in my person when we go out. Yes, I am that paranoid. LOL.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
This was one of the first things we had to teach her about handling her money. This one also falls under self discipline. And also why we applied the "10 times the item" rule. Children, no matter how seemingly little they are, has the power to understand clear and concise instructions. As long as it is communicated to them as we normally would to any person, they will grasp the idea. All the better if they ask questions, this shows they understand it but just wants it to be clearer in their head.
Save for the rainy days.
I am glad that my daughter has acquired the habit of looking ahead into the future. She always has her what ifs and wants to make sure she knows what she should do should this or that happen. Saving for the rainy days became easy for her to understand as well. She knows that she should always be prepared. I see her do this with her time management. She would do her assignments as soon as we finish all our lessons because she says she might not have enough time to play in the afternoon - something might arise. I find it funny and cute but it really is very helpful in leaning the habit of anticipating for unexpected things.
It's not about having all the tools, it's knowing how you use them
One of the lessons I make sure she keeps in mind is that no matter how much money she has, if she does not know how to use it, it will never be enough. Before I decided on giving her weekly allowances, I made sure that she understands the value of money. Not just how much each bill is or how much a coin she's holding is. I needed her to view money as a tool that she can use to hear advantage, not an end goal, not just something she needs to have so she can buy the things se wants. She's still very young and she still has a lot to learn. But for now, I am content to see that she is learning the most basic of the laws of money, paying yourself first, and slowly she's learning how her money can work for her.
