Help needed. I hope a lot of you out there will share with me your thoughts and suggestions.
How do I teach my 5 year old little boy the value of money? Jet and I would want to start teaching Josh the importance of saving. Ideally, we would want to come up with some sort of a uh, "project" for him which will involve his having to save up money in order to "buy" a simple toy he really wants. Like we were thinking of coming up with a reward system where we will give him x amount of money if he ____(fill in the blank with a verb, for as long as it is anything legal for a 5 year old to do)_____ which he will save up in his piggy bank. Every 2 weeks, we will allow him to check on his savings and if it sums up to a reasonable amount wherein he can use the money to buy himself a toy he has been eyeing, then he can go ahead and do so. BUT we will also offer him the option of not spending his money YET, instead, he will continue to save up so that his savings increase therefore allowing him to buy a toy he wants even more (usually something more expensive). Aside from this, I want to teach him the importance of also saving part of his money for long-term purposes. We opened an account for him and we would want him to realize that he will also have to contribute to the "accumulating" of his wealth (HAH that made me laugh).
So there, do you have simpler ways in mind? Any system you have tried with your kids which you may want to suggest I try?
3 comments:
I heard a great suggestion once:
Have three jars for saving. One for donating. One for short-term to buy a toy. One for long-term. That way he would learn several lessons in the value of money AND giving.
We'll be doing that with our girls one day.
My kids earns for their toys. I give points for job well done. I don't take away points, I give points for good behavior then I convert it to money.
** thanks jenn! i liked your suggestion especially the one where i get to teach the value of "giving."
** Shoshana, i have been thinking also of coming up with a reward system for Josh, like a weekly chart where he gets a star for a job well done and then a certain number of starts equals a certain toy or something.
thanks!
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