As anyone who has watched the BBC in the last few weeks may know, tomorrow, Friday 16th November will see the massive fundraising telethon event that is Children in Need. Special editions of the Beeb’s favourite programs including Dr Who, Strictly, Eastenders and music from a whole host of events as well as heart breaking videos will fill the airwaves. My children will be watching some of these in the hope that they can see where some of the money that the school helps to raise every time it comes around actually goes, as well as getting an insight into the lives of those who are less fortunate themselves. The school this year is having a wear silly socks to school and a film and popcorn event, the children give a donation and then get to watch the film and munch popcorn, sounds good! For the first time when I asked the children how much they wanted to take in they went to their own money boxes and produced some money themselves. They’re keen to pay their own way. Not to mention that Hpops has been badgering me to help her with a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. So off I went with the list of things she had made having read the information on the website, and then this evening we wrapped a box in paper, printed off the label and stocked the box with all the goodies. We went on-line to pay the postage and print off the barcode so that at some point we will be able to see where the shoebox ended up.
‘Mummy, how much did all this cost?’ Hpops asked me thoughtfully, so I told her and off she trotted returning with her money box. This time she handed me some money and told me we could go halves because she was the one who wanted to send the box, I was touched that she cared enough to give up some of her own money. Recently the trend of the children to spend most of their pocket money as soon as they get it, often on things they don’t need and get bored with after a couple of days has led to us setting up standing orders for the three of them for the majority of their pocket money. The rest of it they ‘earn’ through keeping their rooms tidy, putting their washing away and doing their homework without too much of a fight! We try to teach them the value of money as they had begin to adopt the ‘it’s broken, let’s get another one asap!’ attitude.
Hpops in particular has begun to learn as when the TV in the kitchen decided it wasn’t going to work anymore we decided that rather than rush out and replace it, instead we’d show them how to save up and get things they really want! The second way we have been showing them the value of money is by saving up nectar points. There is a certain set of Audio books featuring a certain wizard popular with children and adults that Hpops really wants, the complete set costs a heck of a lot of money so instead of buying them we have been saving up Nectar points, this has shown her how to save, we could have spent the points several times over but by saving with the points we have has the cash we would have spent and she will value them a lot more when in the next couple of weeks we finally reach our goal!
It has meant Mr T and I have had to stop buying things as soon as we want them to try and teach the children to do the same, after all if we tell them they have to save, think carefully about what they want rather than rush out and buy the nearest thing we have to model it! In this way it has helped us as well to prioritise what the family needs and what we can leave for a couple of months for, we are teaching then not to buy things unless they can go into the shop and buy what they want, rather than bargain with us and ‘borrow’ money. They have also been pleasantly surprised how much their pocket money and birthday money has built up since they have been saving their money and even receiving interest!
My biggest tip for teaching children the value of money is to model it for them, show them that you have a saving goal for a luxury and encourage them to keep their money in a bank account so they can watch it grow, let them have a goal, maybe a longed for to and gadget. The chances are if they have saved for it themselves, the experience of buying it and having it will give them great satisfaction and they are more likely to look after it than the stuff they just get given!
