Ask my kids what my parenting purpose is and you will probably hear something about making their life painful and full of embarrassment. There will be no talk of cooking, cleaning, driving them all over creation, or giving them hugs. Well here's my little secret... sometimes my job IS to make their lives painful or as I like to refer to it; teaching life lessons.
Meet my son, Harry.
Overall he is a good kid. He's a hardworker, full of energy, and is known to be caring. One thing that has always been a problem for Harry is his money management. Ever since he was a very young child he has spent every last dime of money he is given within about a half hour of receiving it. I have to admit that when he was 3 and received a dollar or two, watching him run through Target seeing what he could buy with it was kind of endearing. By 6 years old, I wondered how long this phase would last. By eight years old, with no end in sight to the free wheeling spending, we decided to put boundaries in place. Images of him as an adult wandering through Target filling his cart up with video games and candy on payday began to weigh on my mind. We discussed the importance of saving money for something he really wanted, not just the "right now". Harry had a hard time grasping the saving concept. He is the type of kid that always has a running list of things he wants, so to him "really wanting" something is a daily occurrence.
Fast forward 4 years. Harry is now 12. Late last year he started to turn a corner; all be it slowly. He decided he was going to start saving his money for a big purchase. At first it was going to be the new Nintendo DS 3D, then a month later it was going to be a drum set. He has been pretty steady with the drum set idea. Well now he has decided to play percussion for orchestra next year in school, rather than piano. So the idea of buying a percussion kit came up because he will need it to practice. Not as glamourous as a full drum set, but more practical and a lot easier on the ears. Here are some pictures of Harry's purchase.
I am very proud of him and his first success of saving up for a big purchase. Although, as he was playing on the new drum pad, he did tell me he still has $100.00 left and he began to shout out ideas of how to spend that. Baby steps, right?
Meet my son, Harry.
Overall he is a good kid. He's a hardworker, full of energy, and is known to be caring. One thing that has always been a problem for Harry is his money management. Ever since he was a very young child he has spent every last dime of money he is given within about a half hour of receiving it. I have to admit that when he was 3 and received a dollar or two, watching him run through Target seeing what he could buy with it was kind of endearing. By 6 years old, I wondered how long this phase would last. By eight years old, with no end in sight to the free wheeling spending, we decided to put boundaries in place. Images of him as an adult wandering through Target filling his cart up with video games and candy on payday began to weigh on my mind. We discussed the importance of saving money for something he really wanted, not just the "right now". Harry had a hard time grasping the saving concept. He is the type of kid that always has a running list of things he wants, so to him "really wanting" something is a daily occurrence.
I am very proud of him and his first success of saving up for a big purchase. Although, as he was playing on the new drum pad, he did tell me he still has $100.00 left and he began to shout out ideas of how to spend that. Baby steps, right?
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