I personally believe that children should be
taught about handling money as early as possible or as soon as that Christmas
time arrives when the little kid receives money as gifts from his/her ninong (godfather) or ninang (godfather). Why teach about money to kids? Because
using money, like eating food or going to the bathroom is very much a part of
man's life. Teaching children how to earn, use, invest, and save money nowadays
is as essential as and parallel to the way ancient people taught their young to haunt, slaughter, trade, and preserve animals (for food). Yup, I think we can
compare earning with haunting, using with slaughtering, investing with trading,
and saving with preserving. Cool, huh?
Now, why teach about money on Christmas? Well, because most godparents and
some relatives give loads of cash gifts to children during this season and how
parents react to the situation will definitely influence a child’s attitude
towards cash gifts and to money in general.
Take this scenario for example, in the life of an
eight-year-old boy one Christmas afternoon:
Ninong:
Inaanak (godchild), here is P100.00
for you. Hand it over to Mama or else you might lose it or pickpockets might
get it from you.
Little
boy’s thoughts go something like:
Oh no! This money is too much for
little me to handle. I must it give it to Mama. I'm scared of money.
Little
boy gives the P100 to Mama. Mama takes it and says:
"Okay,
I'll keep it. We will save it in the bank. Say thank you to Ninong.
Mama
and little boy goes home.
Mama:
Okay, son. Is it really just P100? Check your pockets, maybe there's more. No
more? Oh well, let us just buy burger and fries with that.
Little
boy's thoughts now go like:
"Hmm.
P100 is just a small amount. Better spend it than save it? Hmmm."
Of course, you know what
we're getting at in here--not to make a public comedy out of cheap ninongs and ninangs or of parents who take their children's money for their own
use (we don't know their reasons), but to help parents use this time of year to
teach children about the value money, no matter how much your child gets. Below are some helpful hints to do:
1. Inform
your children beforehand of the possibility that their godparents will give them
money for Christmas instead of actual presents.
Ask your children what they want to do with the
money. Remind them of the things they wanted to buy if they had money (like perhaps
they mentioned before that they wanted a doll house or a laptop, or even a car
when they turn 18). Then tell them that they can deposit some of the gift money in
the bank so they can save up for the thing that they want to buy. You can then suggest on what they can do with
the rest of the money, like buy new clothes or shoes for the New Year, or new
toys if they have already received new clothes and shoes as gifts. Tell them to
consider the money as prize for some good or responsible deed done during the
year like getting good grades or maintaining a tidy room. You can also help them
decide on what to do with the money by setting an example. You can show them
what you are going to do with your own Christmas money (like bonuses received
from the office), which might include saving a percentage, buying gifts for
family and friends and Christmas food and trimmings, and allotting for tithes,
if it is your practice.
(By
the way, this is also the perfect time to explain to your children about how ninongs and ninangs are like second parents to them, who are concerned for their
well-being and future but sometimes, like their own parents, godparents
cannot give gifts due to money constraints, too. Thus, godparents’ love should
not be equated with the amount of money or gifts they can give.)
2. As much
as you can, do not be tempted to take the Christmas money or any percentage of
it, unless, of course, they insist on giving it to you.
But do not take the money as is. Give suggestions instead like perhaps they
can pay for the ice cream that your family will buy for the New Year. Then take
them along when you go grocery shopping to buy the ice cream.
3. Ask your child if they want to give a gift to
someone for Christmas and tell them to make a list of names and the gifts they
intend to give to each person.
Perhaps there will be a Kris Kringle
at school, or they want to give gifts to family members. Let them compute how
much money they will need to be able to buy such gifts. Don’t pry on the list
because you might be in it and spoil the surprise, but let them tell you if
they think they can find the money for the gifts on their lists and offer
suggestions on how they can afford them. Recommend that perhaps there are items
on the list that they can make instead of buying like a frame of pressed
flowers, or friendship bracelets. Suggest that they can also simply offer free
services like baby sit for relatives or help clean their garage or kitchen. If they
want to buy gifts from the store, help them check out where they can buy those
gifts for a discounted price. You can even help them earn money so they can
afford the gifts. They can run an errand for you or your relatives in exchange for
some money. Or they can sell cookies, toys, or accessories to classmates (check
first with the school if this is allowed) or to playmates in the neighborhood.
Teach them about inventory and counting profit.
4. Rouse
your children’s Christmas spirit by enjoining them to help you make and fill
a Christmas coin bank. The collected coins will be given to Christmas carolers.
Tell them
that it is good to start saving coins early so you do not have to worry about
where to find coins when Christmas comes. Again your children can also do some
simple fundraising projects with the aim of allocating the profit to Christmas
carolers and donation to charities for Christmas. In this way, you are not only
teaching your children how to prepare for anticipated costs in advance, but also
the value of exerting effort for a cause and having compassion for less fortunate people.
5. Teach them about saving and banking. You can even tell them the story of the Nativity and what the
Holy Family did with the gifts from the Magi.
To inspire
your children further, share how that beautiful night when the Lord was born
and the three Magi gave Him gifts started all the gift-giving, celebrations, and
food and decor preparations during Christmas. One interesting aspect of the
Nativity scene on finances that you can share to your children is when the Magi
gave baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It can be deduced, of
course, that not all these gifts were used up that very same day, but we can
see the timeliness of the gifts to meet the expenses that taking care of a baby
entails. Also, the Holy Family had to go to Egypt soon after and those gifts
cannot be more timely for them to use for their travel expenses.
Hence, it is not necessary
to splurge or spend in excess during Christmas. In fact, we can view Christmas as a wonderful time to acquire extra money and
save it for future use. Relate how companies give extra money to their
employees as bonus for a year's good performance during Christmas.
Nevertheless, same rule applies to this extra money. A portion of any money
earned/received by the family goes to savings. And any other extras to that can
go to charity.
