Reflections 6: Money to the Kid – Fine Tuning Needed!

Like all great ideas, as described in Reflections 4, rarely it goes as planned when executed.

I planned to give her the entire $12 to start the month. Being cautious, I intend to give her all $2 notes. It’s better if she looses one $2 than a S$10 bill!

Unfortunately, I’ve only had two $2 notes then. So I told her, daddy pass you $4 and daddy owes you… after she did some finger counting, $8 more dollars. Not a bad start for practical Math!

I was for the idea she’ll just bring $2 every time. She insisted that she wants to bring all $4 to school. Fine, I told her ‘If you lose the money, and there isn’t any left by month end, there won’t be food to buy’. And she replied, ‘Then I tar pau (pack food) to bring to school’. Grrrr.

We learned, her first taste of having the means to spend, is like letting a bird out of the cage! Back from school, ‘How much have you left?’ I asked. She took out her wallet and happily counted the remainder – $1.60.

Huh? Wait a sec, it was $4 given. What was spent?!? 50 cents on food, 50 cents on a tube of Glitter, those irritating metallic shiny dust that stuck all over your skin, and a mechanical pencil at $1.40! Mechanical pencil? I just bought her one over the weekend! Grrrr, Grrrr. Why does she need to buy another mechanical pencil? So that she can lend it to her friend. Grrr, Grrr, Grrr!

Okay, this needs to be fine tune. Mummy suggested, we are too ambitious to pass her that kind of amount for a start, and expect her to handle money sensibly – of course SmackMum said it in a more flowery manner, about SmackDad’s short sightedness in this matter, which I ain’t gonna reveal!

We then explained to our little one, instead of a one lump sum hand out, it is to be a $2 top up until $12. And spending in this manner is going to dry up before the month end. Then she countered ‘I’ll tar pau…’ and daddy retorted, ‘NO tar pau even!’ if money is spend in this manner. Period.

The next day, when she is back, she had with her $1.40. Didn’t she buy food for canteen break? ‘Yes daddy,’ she replied, ‘20 cents for water melon’. Admittedly, for that moment, it pains my heart to realise that she knows enough, to scrimp on the remaining money left.

The following day, she spent 50 cents on her food, and she hasn’t spent lavishly after that. I think a valuable lesson was learned.

Rule of the Day: Tell your child ask. If you don’t ask, the answer is always a ‘No’.

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