A couple of weeks ago, I told you about our desire to better teach our children how to handle money. Last night we had the opportunity to reward Sloan for his patience and great attitude in working and saving his money.
For two weeks now, Sloan has done little chores around the house to earn extra dollars. He’s cleaned baseboards, taken out the trash, watered the flowers, cleaned the bathroom and a whole host of other household tasks.
Each time he got paid, he raced to his wallet and carefully counted out his earnings. The coveted toy cost $25.00, so he had to do quite a bit of work.
During this time, Sloan had a great attitude. He didn’t complain, he didn’t whine and beg for more money faster. He was brilliant. So Lee and I decided to help him out in his goal.
When he reached $20.00, we told him to take out three dollars and set it aside for savings. Then we had him give us two dollars to give to the church. We then gave him the last ten dollars he needed and we packed up last night and headed to the store where he got his beloved Star Wars doodad.
(He says it’s called a Nancho Fighter. I’m pretty sure that’s not right, but whatever it is, he’s very proud.)
Not to be left out, Tia has been saving money herself. Because she tends to, ahem, lose focus in just about any task she’s given, she didn’t earn quite the same amount as Sloan. But she did have ten dollars to spend, so after taking out a dollar for the church and two dollars for savings, we gave her enough to buy a princess jewelry set, of which she is equally proud.
This was a very fun way to help the kids learn money management. It also gave us a chance to teach them of God’s blessings on those who are good stewards of their finances. It was a good lesson for both kids and for Lee and I as well.
It was also good for my house as I now have clean baseboards for the first time in, well, a really long time. So, you know…Mama got a bonus too.
So, um, do your children contract themselves out to other establishments? Because I haven’t had clean baseboards in, well, ever! 🙂
A good way of teaching children to manage money. You are wise parents. It will be an example for us as well. I told Vova about your practice and he likes the idea. It will serve us as an example of our own way to teach Ulyana. But I think you will invent a couple of new ways to share…
Tia looks like a doll in her jewelry set
Bethany – Funny you should ask – they do indeed contract themselves out for work. Of course, their wage will have to be increased due tot he fact that they will have to reimburse their cheuffer for the time spent driving…