Both O and L struggle with the concept of money.
Much like other children their age, the concept that toys and other items cost money and that Mummy and Daddy Superhero do NOT have a money tree growing in the backyard causes some confusion and many an argument.
L especially struggles to understand why he can't just have what we wants, when he wants it from the shops. Many a shopping trip has ended in tears because L has wanted a toy.
O understands the concept of money and will happily save up her hard earned cash for something that she wants to buy. She is very sweet and will always make sure that she has enough money to buy L something too.
Both O and L earn pocket money for helping around the house, but this in itself poses a problem.
L just likes to play with the money that he earns, and quite often he will end up losing his money, cue a meltdown when the money can not be found. He also doesn't understand that the larger the coin, the smaller the monetary value.
But and there is always a but....
We have a change fairy in our house, AKA little miss O, who when she spots spare change lying around, she will snaffle it and put it into her purse.
So Daddy superhero and I have a theory that most of L's pocket money that he loses while he is playing with it, ends up in O's purse.
And then there is a issue of cards. Both O and L know that Mummy and Daddy use their money cards to pay for the shopping, but neither of them understand how the money gets onto the card.
Quite often if I tell O and L that I don't have any money for the item that they want, one or both of them will reply "just use your card!" If only it was that easy.
Mmmm what to do.
A while back one of my friends told me about an idea that she had spotted on Pinterest about creating Mummy Money to use with her own children.
So just recently after yet another meltdown from L about not being able to find his money, I decided to create something similar to see if I could teach O and L about saving money.
And so Superhero Bucks were born!
The idea is that when O and L complete their weekly chores, they will earn Superhero Bucks. If they complete all of their chores, they will be given 5 Superhero Bucks. If they only complete a few of their chores, which is invariably what happens, they will be given 2 Superhero Bucks.
So that there is no confusion as to which Superhero Bucks belong to which child - L's Superhero Bucks have male superheroes on them, O's have female superheroes on them.
Once they have their Superhero Bucks in their hot little hands, they can either spend them at Mummy and Daddy's Shop or they can save them up for a larger reward.
Mummy and Daddy's Shop is a plastic box with a variety of small toys and other reward vouchers in it - toy cars, Shopkins, Ooshies and other small items that O and L like as well as vouchers for to go to a movie or a coffee date with Mum or Dad. Each item in the box is worth a different value of Superhero Bucks.
The idea is that by using Superhero Bucks this will hopefully assist to teach O and L about saving for something that they want.
At the and of each week they can calculate how much Superhero Bucks they have earnt, how much they have saved and how much they need to save for whatever they want to buy.
Using the Superhero Bucks, we are teaching the little superheroes that to earn money, you have to do something - in this case chores around the house. They will be able to see their "money" building up over time but also disappearing if they choose to spend it at Mummy and Daddy's shop.
I am also hoping that they will both understand that to get something that they want, that they need to spend money.
Ultimately my goal with the Superhero Bucks is to teach O and L the basics of money and to start building positive money habits with them now so that in the future they will be confident in making good financial decisions.
I want to teach my children how to save money, that they can choose to spend their money wisely and I want to show them that they can watch their money grow, just that it doesn't grow on trees!
It's never too early to start learning good money habits!
I'd love to hear about how you teach your children good money habits.
Great idea! I have no idea how to go about teaching my little ones about money and the value of things. I'll be looking into the idea of Superhero Bucks some more!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I have no idea how to go about teaching my little ones about money and the value of different things, so this is very helpful!
ReplyDeleteLove the change fairy!! Good job mama!
ReplyDeleteWe did something like this in the early 2000s with my daughters. We just had simple green money with $$ on it and they earned money. When they wanted to shop outside the house, they could cash them in with mommy and daddy. I am a big fan of teaching kids to manage money. Great job.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! We have been thinking about this too and have a piggy bank and teach about saving as well. Piggy banks are fun for little ones!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great and interesting way to teach your kids. It's always good to train them from young.
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