Elias and Simon have save, spend, and give jars as part of their education about money. They get a small “allowance” each week in which they are required to put one quarter in each of the jars, and the final quarter can go in the jar of their choice. They also have a sticker chart each week which helps them earn more moolah. On the sticker chart are skills we want them to work on, or habits we want to help them form. They can choose where to put that money as well.
At first, the save jar never seemed very glamorous to either of the boys. I noticed that not much of the choice money ever went in there. However, when I actually had them set a goal for where to spend the money, they did actually start “saving.” The first thing they saved for was a trip to the Wings and Waves water park. They saved enough for their own admission, and we went last April. After that, I had them set a new goal, and they said they wanted to save enough to go bowling at Big Al’s so that they could play two games and also go to the arcade. They both saved enough, and have been begging to go so we finally found a free evening to head over the the bowling alley.
We ended up staying out almost an hour past bedtime…but it’s almost summer anyway, right? They boys had a blast both at bowling and at the arcade, and the best part is that they paid their own way. It’s nice to see them reap the rewards of their saving.
Poor Caleb was pretty miserable the whole time, though. He was just along for the ride because he is too small to bowl (although he was so upset that we did bend the rules and let him push the ball off the ramp a couple of times). Saying I’ve never seen Caleb cry so hard would be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was close. He was super distraught that he couldn’t lift the balls and we wouldn’t let him down the lane. He is really good with facial expressions these days:
Next time we will have to find a babysitter so he doesn’t have to go through the torture!