Teaching My Eldest Son to Save - Step Two

parenting, saving, children.

In a follow-up to my effort to teach my eldest child to save, I sat him in front of my desk and watched his reaction when he saw money. He opened and said in his cute toddler voice, "Money!". He then began to play with it. I helped him separate a dime from pennies. After which he continued to separate dimes and pennies. Unfortunately, every coin was now called a dime (if only all my pennies became dimes!).

I then gave him a quarter and asked him if he would save it. He gladly took it and began the challenging process of putting it into his pant pocket. After conquering his pocket I reminded him if he found the other quarter, we could go to the supermarket and ride the mechanical train. He seemed excited about that, but couldn't remember where the other quarter was.

In order to help him learn how to save, I think I need to help him learn where how to put money in a safe place.

Today, we will put money in a drawer. Later in the day I will give him a second quarter and help him put it in the same drawer. Perhaps the next day we will take the money and go to the supermarket.

It seems that some skills are not straightforward -- that they are actually composite skills and that other critical skills must be learned first. In this circumstance he must learn how to safely store things and remember where they are.

Have a wonderful Thursday.

makingourway