Reflections 4: Money to the Kid

Illustration by Heymans Tho

Come August, we are going to try a little experiment. We have decided to give a monthly allowance for our little one. If she spends them all before the month ends, she will have to go without any money for canteen food – till the next month. Yes, I am beginning to like the idea!

She will come to realize that money cannot be never ending if she is not careful with it. It is never too late to instill the value of money for the kid, even if she is in her Lower Primary. There was once she said, ‘Daddy if there is no money, the bank can give you money’. How sweet. And I asked her, ‘Who puts the money in the bank so that daddy can take money from the bank? It’s daddy!’

Her spending on canteen food per day is just 50 cents. Bless her school. You can actually buy a bowl of fishball noodles with that amount and it comes with two full fishballs! Get this, if you want to spend lesser – 40 cents for a slice of pandan cake, 30 cents for an egg, scrambled or sunny side up!

That works out to S$10 for the five days and four weeks in school. Okay, daddy is not going to be a scrooge. I’ll throw in another S$2 for allowance. That makes it a grand total of S$12 per month for her canteen food. Now who says having kids is gonna be exorbitantly expensive?

Nothing more will I give because she will also learn to cope with the all too common occurrence in today’s lifestyle – instant gratification. If she wants to spend on items, other than the canteen food, she got to work with the monthly budget. I'd say, spend on the lesser price food and save the remaining sum, till you are able to afford! Hey, wait a sec, she can put into practice her addition and subtraction here too! This is gonna be fun!

Rule of the Day: A real parent is not one that brings the kid to the world but one that brings the kid up.

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