Comments on: Birthday Money

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:10:39 +0000

Ah, Go-go crazy bones.

Or as they are known in this house.

“Ow! Ow! Who left that on the floor!!!!”

Worse than Lego for bare feet pain.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:43:01 +0000

I’m for tongue-biting. We were in a zoo giftshop after Christmas and my two each had a present “owing” from their grandparents so we let them pick something out. Of course it was plastic tat, and of course it fell apart (IIRC one item broke the same day). But that kind of lesson you have to learn from experience. I don’t think it’s right to say they can choose something and then veto their every suggestion (unless totally age inappropriate etc.) But it wasn’t easy to watch :-)

On a similar note: #1 had one euro from the tooth fairy and wanted to spend it. We spent a long time in Woolworths’ toy dept. looking at prices and of course #1 quickly found that his money wouldn’t go far. There were a couple of items within his budget, but in the end he decided to save up for something he really wanted, rather than blowing his money on something he could afford right away but wasn’t that keen on. Again a somewhat painful procedure, but he learned a lot from it (and I learned that next time we do that I’ll leave the two younger ones at home!)

By: Pewari

Pewari — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:10:07 +0000

Some good thoughts here, thank you :)

By: GoodTwin

GoodTwin — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:10:15 +0000

Looking back, I don’t think I got to spend my money at all! My Mum used to tell us we should save up, swipe the loot and put it in our savings account. Weekly pocket money was regularly filtered from the piggy tank* as well. In fact, by the time I was a teenager I was hiding money if I knew I had a parent’s birthday/anniversary coming up just so I’d have something to go and spend, otherwise it’d be in Fort Knox without any access to it. :-)
But my Mum wasn’t mean, we weren’t deprived. If we wanted something they would generally find the money for it – or my grandparents would. In all, I grew up appreciating money and learning what was worth buying or not) if Mum said No, No it was) and now have far more savings than many people.

Having said all that, I think the right thing to do is both let them spend on whatever they want but also make them save some of the money. Maybe 2/3, 1/3?

* That’s not a typo – it genuinely was a wooden box shaped like a tank :-)

By: Ys

Ys — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:50:29 +0000

Well as you know I don’t have any kids of my own so how my parents did it was to not interfere at all. I was also sensible with money – it was just always in me. But my sisters were/are not and my parents just let them get on with it.

I think I personally would encourage them to save but they’re only small with you so I think there’s probably plenty of time before money has to become a serious issue.

By: famousamy

famousamy — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:09:51 +0000

Had an awesome reply and the site ate it because I didn’t provide my email. (It doesn’t say it’s required.)

OK.. retry.
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You know we haven’t hit this with Isabella yet, so take my advice with a grain of salt..

Maybe try talking to them about commercialism and marketing approaches. Not when you’re out with them shopping for their items, but before hand in an unrelated discussion (so they don’t feel like you’re ruining their fun). Talk to them about why commercials are necessary (often because the item isn’t good enough to sell on it’s own) and what kinds of prices seem good vs. bad.

And when a toy that they’ve bought – that seems over-priced to you – breaks or just loses it’s excitement long before it should’ve, you can bring up those conversations and use it as a learning point. That way they start that thinking process on their own.

That’s my two cents.