Spending in Kid Terms

Two summers ago and last summer, we had something I called Fun Fridays. Every Friday I didn't have to work, the kids were home and it was our free time.

I confess I started doing this because I got tired of taking photos and scrapbooking every summer activity. By just focusing on the Fridays, I could schedule cool activities, take photos, pre-assemble a scrapbook and have it done at the end of summer. It was a great momento of their activities (and great to have on hand for the teachers they gave the first-week-of-school assignment "Tell us about your summer vacation!")

On one trip two years ago, we visited an old railroad car museum. It was just a sidetrip for our activity of the day, but free and fun. BUT, like kids often do, they began pesting for me to buy them a souvenir. One wanted a model train. One wanted a toy. One wanted something else. And I had to say no. Again. And again!

When we were outside the train I explained to my then 4th, 2nd and kindergartener how I didn't have the money to buy them everything they want. But, since they knew or were learning math, I gave them the numbers.

"There are 12 Fridays in summer, so there are 12 Fun Fridays.
If we go somewhere every Friday and I spend $40, how much will I be spending?"

There were some wrong answers, but once we reviewed the math they realized that Fun Fridays would cost us $480. Woah! Even they realized that was a lot.

I explained that I could afford to spend $40 each week. But that included admission to places (which often eats up the $40 itself!), food, gas, etc.

That day we were going to a candy store and a pretzel factory. I explained that if they wanted candy and do to the pretzel tour, that would take money. Plus our trip to the grocery store that morning to buy the food and drinks for our picnic lunch cost money. I couldn't also buy souvenirs.

And, I'm happy to say, they got it. And they actually like calculating how much a Friday is costing us. They know that if the day's activity is free (hiking, swimming, going to the zoo where we have a membership), I'll take them somewhere at night and spend money (like Rita's water ice, ice cream or a local dairy).

Most of our Fridays came in on budget. When we were in Disney World I didn't count the ticket price (we had 7 day passes anyway), so the $40 was for ice cream and lemonade in the park. I didn't count the dinner at the park because we would have gotten that as part of vacation. And I gave each of the kids $5 to buy something in a gift shop that day.

You can be as strict as you want with the spending limit, but I think having a guideline is good for the kids. It encourages them to realize there are trade-offs when you're deciding what to buy. And it encourages them to do simple math to calculate what is spent for the day and the summer.

This would also work for setting a spending limit for a vacation, letting them decide what they want to spend from day to day when they know the weekly total.