An update on Kids & Money

So, the 5yr old earned his first $10! I supplied him with a few DDB envelopes, and we got to it… He put $1 in his “Tithe” envelope. He put $2 in his “Savings” envelope. He put $7 in his “Spending” envelope and off to Target we went!
He was a little sad when he learned that most of the toys (Legos anyway) were more than $7. What he really wanted was the $90 Star Wars Lego set! I told him he could have it, after about 15 more “$10”s.
He settled on a Lego set for $5 & change. He was proud to hand his dollars to the cashier, and was proud to tell everyone that he had earned the dollars that he spent to buy the toy.
One of the hard things for me, was being in Target and watching my child “really want” an $8 or $9 toy when he only had $7. Even though the goal is to teach him financial responsibility, in that moment, I wanted to cover the extra dollar or two for him, so that he could have what he wanted...I like to make my kids smile as much as anyone else! However, I had decided (before we went in the store) that I would not do that. Nathan & I decided that in order to teach him not to spend more money than he has, we can’t allow him (while we still have the control) to spend $9 when he only has $7. We also don’t want to teach him that mom & dad will just pick up any extra cost that he may incur…irresponsible kids become irresponsible adults, after all.
He has since earned another “$10” and has decided he wants a $27 Light Saber. We have been talking about how many more “$10” he needs to earn, in order to buy that toy. We have also introduced him to Craigslist – where he can give away less of his dollars to buy the same toy, used.
It’s also been a good way to tell him how much things cost. When he wants something in the store, we just tell him how many dollars it costs and that he is welcome to spend his money on it…
So far, our efforts to teach him about money are going well!