Usually when we give people gifts we always take things like the price tag out because we don’t want others to feel guilty as an example for taking an expensive gift. At the same time it can put people in a state where they now feel they have to match the dollar amount that you spent on them. But I was thinking recently what about a child if you were trying to teach them the value of a dollar?
How this came up was since it is Christmas shopping time I was thinking of what to get my niece and nephew. For my niece’s birthday earlier this year I got her these small Hatchimal toys as I thought it would be something she liked. As it turned out she loved it. She apparently have always wanted the full sized ones that actually hatch automatically. My mom was telling me how when she brought her to the store before she would say she wanted that toy as a birthday gift. But looking at the price where it costs over $80 made my mom say no way.
Her reasoning was pretty normal as the novelty of that egg probably lasts for like 2 minutes. Would you really want to spend $80 for that? I haven’t spent as much time with my niece but I know money wise she doesn’t really have a grasp of the concept of money and value. That is normal for any child of course but having spent quite some time with my nephew and teaching him about getting better value for your dollar the simple way I did it was show him the different prices in various places whenever he asked for stuff. Having that knowledge made him savvier and more responsible with his money.
Even when I ask him what he wants for presents he is fully aware of the prices now of the things he asks for which makes him think if he will truly use it or just throw it away after one before asking for it. Would you say though for elementary school kids though that they should ever have to care to think about finances and just treat it as if money grows on trees? For all the life skills we learn at a young age it’s in some ways odd that when it comes to money we are afraid to teach people about it at an early age.