Thursday, July 12, 2007

Money Matters

Although my kids sometimes get money for presents, they are still very innocent with what it is really about. My 6 year old knows it's for spending but she's ignorant in terms of its value. She actually gives more value to coins than bills. If you let her choose between a coin and a bill, she'll eagerly have the coin and consider herself rich.

My children don't usually whine or have temper tantrums whenever we don't buy them the stuff they fancy. Often, there are toys they'd like to have and we merely let them play with the toys inside the shop. They don't really feel bad if we leave the shop without buying anything. My kids, especially the older one, know why we are not buying the toys. During her Blue's Clues days, she would say, "We need Blue dollars." Nowadays she would say, "We need to buy money." Sigh!

One time, I was telling my first child of our plans to go visit her cousins. Being very attached to my sister's family, she was excited about it. I told her we don't have our plane tickets yet and asked her to pray to God to provide us with the means to purchase them. She readily complied and prayed about it. Later when we were in the supermarket, she found a small coin on the floor. She was very happy about her find and excitedly said, "Mommy, I found a coin. Now we can buy our tickets." I simply hugged her and said, "One coin is not enough. We need lots of coins in order to buy our plane tickets." Without any trace of disappointment she smilingly replied, "Yes! I'll go find some more." How I wish we all could view life through the eyes of a child.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"How I wish we all could view life through the eyes of a child." Totally agree with you Mommy.

Teaching kids the value of money is important. I don't want my kid to be an impulsive buyer in the future. :) It also won't hurt if they play with still functional toys outgrown by their siblings or cousins.

I felt proud of my daughter at one time when we went to the Mall. She saw a toy she really like, took hold of it. She really was fascinated with it but suddenly she put it down and said "Next time". It was my line, is she used to it? I don't know but I'm glad I don't need to tell her that anymore. Then I asked her why, she answered "Next time, work muna si Mommy". I was surprised, now she knows money doesn't grow on trees . :)

Cindy said...

Aww. Your daughter sounds like a sweetheart.

It must be hard, though, trying to teach the value of money, sometimes, because sometimes it seems so hard to keep track of it in these times. It just doesn't buy as much as it used to.

Thank you so much for your comment. I really like your blog!

Ghosty said...

What a great blog! In fact, I happen to know a young mommy who would love to follow this, I'll send her the link. And, thanks for the visit! :)

kturet said...

"Next time"?

Some call it cute, I call it tragic.

Buy the poor kid a toy already! Big Lots has an entire aisle of toy guns, and they're only a dollar!

Seriously, eagerblogger, I enjoy your family stories. Thanks for stopping by my site as well.

Anonymous said...

that's so sweet. isn't it great that kids don't complicate things? ;)

enjoy your weekend!