Today was my last day with this particular group of second graders.\u00a0 One of the girls, Lauren, came running up to me as I was setting up the day’s activity.\u00a0 “I got a job!”\u00a0 she announced.\u00a0 But the gleam in her eyes really said it all.\u00a0 Apparently, after last week’s lesson on special talents and skills, she went home and talked to her parents about doing some jobs around the house for extra money.\u00a0 She got hired to take down and bring back in (!) the garbage can once a week.\u00a0 And she would earn $2 each time she did it.<\/p>\n
Very cool!\u00a0 I asked her what she planned on doing with her money.\u00a0 “I’m going to take the money to the swim meets on the weekend and buy something for my brother and me.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hadn’t even finished relishing the\u00a0news of one of my students getting her first job when Seth came over and said that he was “going to use my notebook and a calculator so I can see how many weeks it will take for me to by the Lego Indiana Jones video game.”<\/p>\n
And then, one of the moms, after class, told me that her son Matthew was now thinking about the idea of saving some of his money.\u00a0 Apparently he\u00a0used to have holes in his pockets.<\/p>\n
These stories are perfect examples that, given the opportunity, kids can and do learn to deal with money issues.\u00a0\u00a0 Parents often think that seven year olds are still too young to begin learning some of this stuff.\u00a0 Holy Moley.\u00a0 Now’s the best time.\u00a0 Let’s get ’em when they’re young and really have an impact on their future financial lives.\u00a0 And besides, not having to take down the garbage can each week is so worth two dollars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today was my last day with this particular group of second graders.\u00a0 One of the girls, Lauren, came running up to me as I was setting up the day’s activity.\u00a0 “I got a job!”\u00a0 she announced.\u00a0 But the gleam in her eyes really said it all.\u00a0 Apparently, after last week’s lesson on special talents and skills, she went home and talked to her parents about doing some jobs around the house for extra money.\u00a0 She got hired to take down…<\/p>\n