Can I buy that?
My son asks this question at least ten times a day.
Sometimes it's as simple as a bag of candy that he's asking for, other times it's a NASCAR race car that he wants. When we see that flashy auto fly by on the television I remind him for the 500th time that sure he can buy it, but he will have to save A LOT of money first.
But if it's a Matchbox car that he wants from Target I've usually complied and tossed it in the cart, thinking I'm teaching a lesson on restraint by allowing him to get one instead of five. I'm slowly learning that in fact I'm not going far enough to explain the concept because he thinks if I can buy him a Matchbox car for ninety-nine cents than why can't he have that shiny red car on television?
He's only four, but at the same time I'm realizing that I'm missing an important opportunity to teach him about the value of money. He understands that you need money to buy things but doesn't know what those quarters he tosses carelessly into his bank are worth.
My husband and I do things a little differently and we have separate money. We both work so we keep our own bank accounts. We don't have joint checking, he pays the mortgage and I pay the day care- I pay the electric and he pays the cable. It all works out. All the more reason I want our kids to grow up knowing how to manage their own money. I don't think it's practical or safe to rely on someone else to do it for you.
Only I don't know how to do that. No one ever taught me how to do it and it wasn't easy to figure it out.
This week The Parent Bloggers Networkis working with Capital One to get the word out about managing family finances. Along with national consumer advocacy group Consumer Action, they've launched a new online interactive Moneywi$e eLearning toolto help families learn about money management skills.
The ELearning tool even includes how-to's for talking to kids about money, which I definately need. If I had a dime for everytime my son asks me if he can buy something I wouldn't need this service, but I do.
