Wants and needs: teaching financial responsibility.

A female caller in to the Suze Ormon show wanted to find out if she could afford a $985 Swarovski crystal Cockatoo.  Her weekly income was $10, she had no expenses, and her liquid assets totaled just over $2,000-  she would pay for the trinket entirely from these funds.  Oh, and she was 10 years old. 

I just imagine the discussion this little girl had with her parents. I imagine they told her if Suze Ormon said she could afford it, then she could buy it.  Suze Ormon, however, denied the little girls request, telling her that the Cockatoo was a want, not a need, and it would be irresponsible to allow her to spend 50% of her assets on such a trinket.

The little girl was fine with that.

I just hope one day my girls are so reasonable.  We try to teach them financial responsibility. When Juliette gets a gift card or some money at Target she spends a great deal of time walking through the store and deciding what she can buy, to the penny.  She is big on quantity, not quality, though: the dollar spot is one of her favorite places. When we go to an arcade-  the type of place where you win tickets and trade them in for prizes- Juliette will spend a great deal of time agonizing over 1, 2 and  5 ticket items, even if she has hundreds of tickets to spend. This lasts for only so long before I completely lose my patience, or the line behind her gets too long, at which point I start hawking the more expensive items.  10 tickets for the plastic bug!  20 tickets for the popping eyeball!

As much as spending money is important, it is also important to learn that you have to work for your money, too.  Juliette and Cosette will help babysit their cousins, for which my mom will give them a few dollars each.  We do assign chores, and we do give the girls allowances for those chore. I remember hearing once about a school of thought whereby you shouldn't pay your kids for doing their chores: that the chores are simply a way for them to contribute to the upkeep of the household.  Sure, that is true, and I want my girls to know how to clean and cook and organize (did anyone else see that episode of Hoarders with Shania (season 3 episode 37)?). However, I think it is perfectly reasonable to equate work with pay, although truthfully they lose out more on the deal then they gain, since Greg usually forgets to pay them- and they only remember to ask every few weeks.  Does that mean the lesson is not working?