Three Year-Olds & Money

Children are amazing. They absorb everything (good or bad) and their excitement about life is contagious. As parents we want to foster and encourage that excitement.

Our two-year old loves trains and dinosaurs and asks for a new one nearly every day.

His “Oh Peese.” and “Thank you Mommy!” are nearly irresistible, especially when he follows up with a hug - nearly but not completely.

Lucky for him, I’ve lived with children before and know that handing him everything because he’s adorable and I want him to have all the things I didn’t have would do him a lot more harm than good.

Lucky for me, I’ve got a plan. I’ve already started decision training. I ask questions like, “Which color vitamin would you like today?” and “What would you like wear?” His decision making slows things down a little but it’s always entertaining and this training is critical because this year he’ll start making spending decisions.

Call me nuts but with a ten trillion dollar national debt, I can’t afford to waste a moment. I can’t count high enough to calculate what the national debt might be when he’s of age so his Personal Financial Management training needs to begin as soon as he can handle it.

He’ll decide if he wants the train or the dinosaur and whether he’d like to skip them both in favor of a trip to his favorite restaurant. Yes, he’s got a favorite restaurant but that’s a topic for another discussion.

He’ll earn his money by carrying out his assigned tasks and avoiding undesirable behavior. At age three he will only have three daily items and I have no doubt that one of those will be making sure that the cat’s tail stays attached to its body.

He’ll earn enough money to buy one train or dinosaur a month and he’ll be required to save some and give some to our church.

Based on my experience, I’ll also have to worry a lot less about the cat.