How I Taught My Preschooler the Value of a Dollar

Sam loves money. More accurately, Sam loves what money can buy. At 5 years old, he studies any toy catalogs he can get his little hands on. When we go to Target, he begs to  look at the toys, hoping he can convince me to buy something. Fortunately, I’m more stubborn than he is, and I never give in.

Given that buying things has always been a huge motivator for Sam, I decided to use his desire to tame his little temper and encourage him to take on some responsibilities around the house. I fired up the computer and headed to DLTK to make a custom chore chart, featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, whom Sam absolutely adores.

We started him out with four responsibilities: making his bed, keeping his room clean, having a good attitude, and setting the table. When we began this system, Sam was three years old, so four responsibilities seemed like enough for starters. We told Sam that if he got stickers in all the boxes, we would go to Walmart and get a little toy NASCAR car, which cost about $3, and we all know how much Sam loves NASCAR. (For you new readers, Sam has every driver, number, and NASCAR sponsor memorized.)

Sam was excited and breezed through the week. I’ve never seen a three year old with such a good attitude! The next week he even helped design his new chart and worked really hard at filling it in. We decided to let him have up to four “holes” in his chart (places where he didn’t complete a responsibility) and still pass. After all, we all have bad days sometimes. But if he got more than 4 holes, the chart didn’t count, and he didn’t get his car. It only took one week for him to figure out that he didn’t like the consequence for having too many “holes.”

At the time I was happy that Sam had a better attitude around the house. But then something else began to happen. When we went to Walmart, he saw a $15 car that he wanted. I told him that we weren’t buying it. And then he asked, “How many charts is that?” I expected him to protest when I told him it was 5 charts, but he didn’t.

When we got home, he asked if I could make him 5 charts. I made the charts with Sam’s help, and we hung them up on his wall. For 5 weeks, Sam worked really hard, and every night he reminded me to put the stickers on his chart.  He eventually did buy the car he was wanting so badly, and he’s “saved” to buy more cars since then.

What began as a way to motivate Sam to stop throwing temper tantrums turned into an exercise where he learned that he must work hard to afford expensive things. It stopped the begging in the store, too. Now when Sam asks if he can buy something, I just say, “That’s four charts,” and he decides if it’s worth it or not.

What are you doing to teach your children about the value of money? Have you ever just accidentally discovered something that works? Do you have a structured plan? Please share in the comments!

And to read more on children and money, check out recent articles by Rocket Finance and Gather Little by Little.

Photo by PPDIGITAL.

Tagged as: Children, Kids, Money, Parenting, preschooler, shopping, value