mommagreenfish

It’s an interesting, sometimes difficult, thing to teach children about money. On the one hand, you want to help them learn how to be responsible, and on the other, you don’t want them feeling that money is all-important. Or at least I don’t.

Today, I took the boys to a craft show & sale. I took them mostly because I wanted to go, and it was my husband’s “day off” (as a stay-at-home dad, I try to make sure he gets at least one day a week for himself).

They were so sweet, looking at the crafts, and exclaiming about the prices. I explained to them that the price of things often reflects how much work and care has gone into making the item, especially at a craft show.

At each table, they saw things they liked and they would say “Do you have insert price of item here dollars?”. Each time I would be honest, telling them either that I didn’t have that amount of money, or that I wasn’t going to spend the money I had on the item they were after.

At one table, a man was selling beautiful jewellry he had carved out of shells. He explained to the boys that the shells are so hard, they have to use a diamond to carve them, and that they sand the pieces seven differnt ways to get the natural finish.

My oldest son pointed out a piece that was $155, and the man told him that it took seven hours to make. I thought to myself that the kids were getting a great appreciation for artisans (very smugly, I might add). So, I decided to give each of them $5 to spend.

I told them both that this was their budget. They’ve never had an allowance, and I’m not sure I’m ready for them to, so I didn’t use that word. I told them that it was theirs to spend how they wanted, and that when it was gone, it was gone.

The first thing that caught their eye was fudge. Even just two days after Halloween, my boys are suckers for fudge.

My oldest read the sign that said it was $1.25, and cheerfully asked the woman for some brown sugar fudge, only to find out that she didn’t have any left.

So, instead of settling for another kind of fudge, he moved on to the next table.

An interesting thing started happening. Instead of asking for everything they saw that they liked, the kids were both much more cautious about what they wanted.

My oldest went back to a table of stained glass ornaments we had visited earlier, and found a small one shaped like a candle for $3. He was so proud of himself, and came back to me with the change.

I reminded him that it was his money, and that he could keep the $2 and see if there was anything else he wanted to buy. He seemed surprised, and pocketed he money.

On our second pass, he noticed the fudge again. This time he decided that he wanted Maple Walnut, and bought it himself. His younger brother, who had not spent a cent to this point (though he sampled some mustard pickles thoughtfully), decided he wanted fudge, too.

Then they were done. Neither of them had spent the entire amount, and they didn’t feel the need to. I was really proud of both of them.

It made me wonder if maybe they are ready for allowances, even a dollar or two a week, just to have that sense of pride in buying something by themselves.

On the way home, I stopped at the local cafe where my husband was writing and generally hanging out (one of his favourite things to do on a day off) to get a coffee and give him a smooch. He reminded me that the kids weren’t supposed to have candy or sweets until after lunch (due to a biting incident yesterday), and that my darling boys had conned me into getting them fudge.

So this is now a cautionary tale - beware the evils of fudge at a craft show!

Trackback URI | Comments RSS