See What Mummy Says How Do You Teach A Child

It is something we have been (and still are!) trying to teach our children.

If you ask our eldest even at 8 how much a house costs, she will tell you “£5000?” so we clearly still have quite a way to go, but we’re trying.

Our children earn pom poms for good behaviour, for tidying up after themselves etc and this is then traded in for magazines, pocket money or a family day out somewhere. They love this and, on the occasions when an item is chosen, the children love asking how much it would usually cost. We talk about how they have earnt that money/reward. We try to give them the money in a variety of formats too, so they can see what that amount relates to.

Similarly, we talk to them about people who are less fortunate than us and may not be able to afford food that month etc, so regularly donate to the local foodbank. The children will go round the shop with our list and we will talk about the different pasta brands, for example, and how a lot of things taste very similar however may be twice as expensive or have a smaller amount in the pack. Being able to see the price difference or different size packets definitely helps (especially with our eldest). Toys are another way we have been trying to help our children learn the value of money and that everything they have costs money. There were so many conversations we overheard from children before and after we had children of our own such as when toys were damaged or they didn’t like a certain feature about it “Ok, we can buy another one” or “I’ll just throw it away”. As a result, we decided that we were going to try and make sure our children knew that whilst it’s okay that sometimes things get damaged beyond repair, that they have to look after their toys and belongings as they aren’t just replaceable and sometimes we need to fix something that is broken instead of giving up on it.

We also have been trying to find a balance between giving a toy we no longer use to someone who may not have many toys/to a charity shop to raise money for others and selling their toys so they have the money to buy new things they would like.

We’d love to know how you tackle this with your family.

Thanks for reading! Becca x

www.seewhatmummysays.com @whatmummysaysuk