A Little Bounce-House Lesson

bounce-house envelope

Josiah: Momma, raisins please.
Me: Sorry Juju. We don't have any more raisins.
Josiah: Momma, go store buy raisins.

I guess it isn't too early to teach about being wise with money. So I had a simple conversation with my toddler when he asked to play on a bounce-house and I didn't have any money with us. I told him that we need money to eat, to live in our apartment and to have fun. If I used all our money for fun, then we wouldn't have any money for food. "Ooohhhh, yes!" responded Josiah as if he was grasping the concept.

So, my little toddler has been allotted 2 ten lei bills a week to go to the bounce-house and play. That is just less than two dollars. He was elated! He keeps them in a special envelope. He knows that when he uses up the money, he has to wait until Sunday when he gets two more.

Of course, the bounce-house days are usually the first days he get his lei. Ten lei gets him ten minutes of bounce-house fun, so that is twice a week he gets to go.

Here is how our conversation went after the first week:

Josiah: No more money. Finished!
Me: You will need to wait until Sunday when you get two more.
Josiah: (After a pause) Momma, go store buy money.

Okay, so maybe it is baby steps...

So sad. Too wet to play on!