Well, the little money lesson came sooner than I thought. Emily brought home a bookorder from preschool last week, which gets us both excited. In the past I have let her choose one book to buy each month with money from her savings bank. She didn't get a bookorder in December, so she was extra excited about this one. When we arrived home, she immediately got out a pencil and started circling all the books she wanted--which included every book with a pink cover (she has real discerning taste). Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, every single one she circled cost $3 or more, and she only had $2 in her bank after purchasing her Pillow Pet. The princess one she really wanted (but I really didn't want her to have) cost $5. As soon as I pointed this out, Emily asked for a piece of green paper and made five dollars (see picture). Apparently she has also been paying attention to the TV ads for the new $2 bills with Thomas Jefferson's striking portrait! ;o) I calmly tried to explain to her that you had to have real dollars and not pretend dollars to buy books. I thought we were kind of past it, but it has come up a couple more times since then. I know she still doesn't really grasp the concept of money and where it comes from, but it was a good place to start a conversation. She also seems to be okay with the fact that she has to wait until February and then maybe she can buy a book. In the meantime, I think we might have to start considering some creative ways to teach some more lessons about money.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A money lesson
Well, the little money lesson came sooner than I thought. Emily brought home a bookorder from preschool last week, which gets us both excited. In the past I have let her choose one book to buy each month with money from her savings bank. She didn't get a bookorder in December, so she was extra excited about this one. When we arrived home, she immediately got out a pencil and started circling all the books she wanted--which included every book with a pink cover (she has real discerning taste). Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, every single one she circled cost $3 or more, and she only had $2 in her bank after purchasing her Pillow Pet. The princess one she really wanted (but I really didn't want her to have) cost $5. As soon as I pointed this out, Emily asked for a piece of green paper and made five dollars (see picture). Apparently she has also been paying attention to the TV ads for the new $2 bills with Thomas Jefferson's striking portrait! ;o) I calmly tried to explain to her that you had to have real dollars and not pretend dollars to buy books. I thought we were kind of past it, but it has come up a couple more times since then. I know she still doesn't really grasp the concept of money and where it comes from, but it was a good place to start a conversation. She also seems to be okay with the fact that she has to wait until February and then maybe she can buy a book. In the meantime, I think we might have to start considering some creative ways to teach some more lessons about money.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Sounds like her solution was similar to many politicians.
How does Emily acquire money for her savings bank? If you blogged about that and I missed it, then I'm sorry...but I'm still curious. I think this is a great lesson. I didn't even think to start this with Kate already but perhaps I should.
By the way, I love the cute, handmade money!
Mieke wanted all the princess books as well and we had the same conversation at our house. I can't remember what we ordered but it was a $3 book and it came out of her money jar. She also got to put her "give" money into the Alternatives baby bottle.
For some reason, I have no desire or motivation to deal with teaching Wendell about $$ yet. I guess when the time comes I will start, hopefully before he turns 18 : ) Great work on teaching though! Thanks for sharing as it gives us other moms ideas.
Post a Comment