Money Matters: Teaching the Value of Money

Parents often say, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” This saying is much more than an excuse not to buy the latest toys. Money’s value comes from labor. Adults have to earn it to live. We get our paychecks from the goods and services that we offer our employers, and in the same way, we give money for the goods and services that we receive from others.

Therefore, a child must learn that money is received when they have earned it. I recommended this idea to someone who was having trouble getting their teenager to do their chores, and his response was, “I don’t want to bribe her.” But if our employers did not bribe us, we would not work for them. We would find a better employer.

In earning money, children learn to balance wants with income. They can decide for themselves if the toy they want is really worth the effort of saving up to buy or if they want something else instead. No longer is it up to us to provide everything, and they learn how to make choices for themselves.

For us, I have a morning and evening routine. In the morning, they get themselves dressed and ready for the day, make their beds, and put away their pajamas. In the evening, they put on their pajamas, put away their dirty clothes, and clean up their toys. For each morning and for each evening routine they complete, they get a quarter, which could be fifty cents a day. Each week, their routines are posted on their doors.

Here are some ideas on teaching children the value of money:

1. Set up a lemonade or ice cream stand. Have them buy what they need out of their own allowance or have them pay you back from their earnings.
2. Set up an art gallery for them to sell their best artwork or arts and crafts, or have an art show and charge a small admission fee.
3. Help them offer their services to neighbors and friends for a small fee. Older children can start babysitting or lawn mowing businesses. Younger children can pick up sticks or plant flowers.
4. Plant a garden together and sell or trade your produce to your neighbors.
5. Write an illustrated children’s book together. Have it bound at a local shop, and sell it to family and friends.
6. Have a bake sale. The children can help plan, bake, and collect the money.
7. Have a garage sale, and let them select some of their old toys to sell.
8. Have a car wash.

To follow up with these activities, the book Sluggers Carwash by Stuart J. Murphy is a great story about money for young gradeschoolers.

Money Matters: Teaching Wise Money Habits

There are only three things a person can do with money: save it, give it away, and use it. As adults, we have to balance those things to have healthy finances. We must save to prepare for hard times and for big purchases we may want, and we must use money to eat and live. Giving helps keep our lives in perspective, reminding us of the troubles that others face.

Children need to know this too. They can learn by example as they watch us balance our budgets, plan our resources and spending, and give to charities. As you deal with your finances, keep your children involved. Talk to them about what you do, explaining why and answering their questions. Then help your children of all ages to separate money for savings and for charity before they spend their money.

Since I pay my young children in quarters, I have them separate them into groups of ten. Out of each group of ten, they set one aside for savings and one for giving, and with the rest they can trade four quarters for a dollar.

Here are some ideas on keeping your children involved in your finances:

1. Plan a dinner menu and build your grocery list from it. Have your child help you do this.
2. Take you child grocery shopping and have them help you compare prices.
3. Plan your monthly expenditures, including savings, giving, grocery budget, and bills. As you sketch it all out, show your child what you are doing.
4. Plant a garden or visit a farmer’s market with your child. Talk about the value of fresh, quality produce and cost effective use of our money.
5. Plan a major purchase for the family (like new furniture or a new car) with your child and set money aside for it each week.
6. Help a child plan for something they want. Create a goal chart together, and designate a bank where they can save their money.
7. Answer requests for something new with the statement, “There are lots of wonderful things in the store, but if we brought it all home, it would just clutter up our lives.”

Electricity & Magnetism

In honor of our week and a half without electricity, I am writing about this really great book that describes electricity, how it works, how to create it, and how it travels through our neighborhoods and homes. Being without power, gave us the opportunity to review our lessons on electricity and magnetism when four-year-old R was quite confused and angry when the lights and TV did not work.

A few months ago, I read Switch On, Switch Off by Melvin Berger as part of our study on electricity and magnetism, and I learned a few things about electricity myself. I knew how that breaking a circuit ended the flow of electricity, but what I did not know was how the electricity was created in the first place. This science story book shows how magnets are used to move the electrons inside the circuit, and this is how electricity is created. A power plant uses large magnets to generate power, and we can do this on a small scale with a small wire and a hand-held magnet.

For Christmas last year, we got a magnet kit, which we have used all year. The kit comes with different shaped magnets and other tools with a long list of experiments. Janice VanCleave writes a full illustrated book just on magnet experiments that can be used with children from age 4 and up. We also read What makes a Magnet? by Franklyn M. Branley, an illustrated story book that explains why magnets work.

There are also electricity expermient kits and a Janice Van Cleave book on electricity, but what I think fascinated me the most was the electromagnetic experiments. One experiment in particular interested me. You will need a battery, a strip of tin foil, a circuit wire, and a strong, horseshoe magnet. Then follow these steps:

CAUTION: For safety reasons, all electrical experiments should be performed with a battery rather than an electrical outlet. A battery will provide only a small amount of electricity. Also, all experiments should be performed with an adult.

1. Connect the wire and the tin foil together.

2. Close the circuit by adding the battery.

3. Put the horseshoe magnet over the tin foil strip.

Results: The tin foil will bend in response to the magnet reacting to the electricity passing through the tin foil.

Helpful Hint for Baby's First Foods

I was going through my old cupboards and found cans of vegetables (peas, green beans, carrots), and I realized that I would never use them because I prefer fresh stuff. So I boxed them up to ship to someone I know who has a new baby, with a note on what I thought of as one of my more brilliant ideas.

With my first child, I bought those expensive little jars of nasty tasting peas and green beans, and other than the few basics, M doesn't really like her veggies. However, with my younger two, I bought salt-free canned veggies, mushed them with a fork, and fed them that way. They seemed to love it, and they very quickly grew to enjoy their vegetables.

I didn't just stop with canned vegetables. Overripe avocadoes and frozen spinach warmed in the microwave are also great first vegetables. Broccoli that has been steamed to the point that you can mush it with your fingers works as well. However, corn can be an allergen, so I recommend avoiding that one.

I used to buy fruits when they are fresh, particularly peaches and pears. In the summer, peaches are in season, which means they are always on sale, they are very tasty, and they are ripe enough to mush with a fork. Pears can sit on your counter until they are soft enough. Both of these fruits are great substitution for jarred baby food.

So here are a few reasons why this works:

1) Money. Saving money is a very good reason to use adult canned veggies. One no-name brand of salt-free green beans is 55 cents, close to the same amount of a jar of baby food. However, the quantity you get in a can of veggies greatly exceeds what you get in a jar of baby food. The can lasts for several meals.

2) Taste. No one is going to eat their vegetables if they don't taste good. Overcooked peas are awful compared to the fresh stuff. I always tasted the baby food before I served it because I could not in good conscience feed them something that I was not willing to eat. How can babies eat this stuff? is what I thought.

3) Texture. Texture aversion runs in my husband's side of the family. Baby food has no texture, but canned veggies smashed with a fork is small enough for a baby to eat and mush with their tongue but not textureless. That helps prepare them for textures when they are older, which means they are more likely to try new things.

4) Preparation. This prepares them for table food. They more quickly adjust to the flavors and textures of adult food.

Learning by Example

I witnessed an argument between my two older children, playing in the oldest's bedroom. "Mommy, she won't share her blocks with me," M complained.

"She doesn't have to share," I explained. "Only toys for everybody are for sharing. Those blocks are hers, and she gets to choose whether she will share or not. Just as you have your own toys and can decide whether you want to share them. If you want her to share, you need to offer her an agreement."

Four-year-old R has her thumb in her mouth, scowling at me. "R, you do not have to share your blocks," I tell her, "but she is sharing her room with you."

M pipes up, "Either share your blocks or get out of my room. Your choice."

Did I just hear that right? Did she just say what I think she said?

She just took my discipline phrase and turned it into an assertive statement. She then used it to solve her own problem with her sister. I had modeled assertive behavior rather than passivity or aggressiveness, and she had learned by my example.

Discipline Model: Giving Choices and Clear Consequences

There are only three ways to deal with a child's misbehavior. The passive approach allows the behavior to continue without even a verbal correction. I confess that in the past, this was my downfall. I had no clue how to balance mercy with discipline, and I felt guilty to make my children cry.

The aggressive approach seeks to make the child pay through deprivation, spankings, a battle of wills, or a timeout. In the end, punishment is about who wins the Biggest Temper Tantrum Contest. If the parent wins, the battle is delayed for another day; if the child wins, then the whole household is in trouble.

But discipline isn't a battle of wills or a way of making the child pay just because the parent isn't happy. No, discipline is a valuable lesson that parent has carefully planned for the child to learn. Discipline is only successful when the child learns a lesson that they can carry with them into adulthood. This is the assertive approach.

There are many tools in the assertive discipline approach. One method of discipline is to give a limited set of options. This allows the child some control over their lives and yet clearly sets the boundaries as well as the consequences.

"Either pick up your toys or I will confiscate them. Your choice." This example offers the child two options and outlines clear consequences. Sure, one option is not very nice to them, but they can very easily choose to pick up their toys. If they choose to test your resolve, follow through without lectures or anger or temper tantrums. Without a word.

When their toys are gone, they will think twice of testing you again. When they beg, whine, or scream, you can say, "I am sure that next time you will pick up your toys." Then walk away or you will be tempted to lecture, and honestly leaving them alone with their own thoughts is more than enough.

Here are some other examples:

• Either sit still or we will sit in the car while everyone else finishes their food. (It might be frustrating to sit in the car yourself, but worth the lesson the child learns. Your next visit to a restaurant will most likely be more pleasant.)
• Either eat what I've fixed for you or get yourself a sandwich. I am not making anything else. (A sandwich for dinner doesn't really hurt them, and forcing a picky eater to eat what they don't like usually just makes them pickier. Put some control in their hands, and they will enjoy eating much more.)
• Either put your shoes on or I will march you to the car without your shoes. You can put them on in the car.
• Use your words or go scream in your room. You can come out when you can talk to me in a reasonable tone of voice. (This is not a timeout. This is an emotional break. We all need them some times.)
• Stop hitting your sister or go play by yourself.

I always like to add the words "your choice" to the end of this because it is a reminder to the child that it really is in their hands. When you follow through with firm actions, they will know that it was their choice that brought this.

Applying this type of discipline has brought a lot of changes in our household. There were some frustrating moments as my children tested my resolve, but each time, they became a little more humble, a little kinder, and a little easier to deal with. Most importantly, they learned a few lessons on appropriate behavior.