Hey Big Spender!

Earlier this week we had to go shopping for some birthday presents for different little guys in the neighborhood. This brought about a tidal wave of desire in Andrew to buy a lego present of his own. Andrew is very good about not wanting to get stuff when we go to the store but after looking at the prices of some of the lego sets I realized that he had enough money to buy a set of his own. Andrew doesn't usually bring his money with him to the store so I promised him that the next time I needed to go to Target that I would take him and he could get something with all his money.

After we counted up the amount he had in his piggy bank (his is an owl, but you get the drift) we discovered that Andrew had exactly $6. Zane this afternoon hearing that his brother got to get into his bank checked his own (a fish) to see what he had. I was really surprised to see that Zane had almost the same amount of money $5.74. That made things much easier. I was really worried that I would have one boy with lots to spend and another one with hardly anything.

The money bags themselves!

I knew that Andrew had his heart set on one of the little lego sets that built into a race car and that he had enough money. Trying to explain sales tax to little kids is a nightmare. They don't get that the price on the shelf is not the price they have to pay. In their minds they should be able to get anything that they have enough money for. Fortunately I remembered how much the racecar was and did a rough calculation on the tax at home. I know I could have been nice and paid any extra myself but I figured that they have to understand sales tax at some point. Anyway, Zane picked out a Lightning McQueen puzzle that he had been eyeing the last time we were at the store. I wish we could have found one with 100 pieces because that is what he is capable of but we had to settle for a 24 piece puzzle. He was happy with his purchase though.

I made the kids do check out on their own. If we are going to teach about money we might as well go the whole distance. I help them individually check out and count out their money. I also look for a checker that seems cheerful because sometimes they are crabby that one family is going through the line 3 times to let everyone do their own money.

When we got home we had to instantly put together both puzzle and car. Andrew managed to do everything on his car by himself. I sat and watched and gave some minor instruction but he followed the directions himself and put it together. I also sat with Zane while he worked on his puzzle. As I suspected it took him less than 5 minutes to put together and he didn't need any help but he was still happy with his purchase and I guess that is what is important.

Not bad for a five year old!

I did want to mention that this is only the second time Andrew has ever gone to the store and gotten to buy something with his own money. We don't give our kids allowances (yet) and they are very good about saving up their coins and other special event money for a big purchase. It will be interesting to see how they view money in the years to come!