A few weeks ago we were eating out with my adorable granddaughters and, when the check came, my sweet little six year old said "Mimi, I can pay for dinner. I have lots of money in my piggy bank (money that had been slowly accumulating over the years through birthday gifts, the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, etc.) She thought she was "rich". I was struck with her generosity, that she would want to buy dinner for us, but I told her no that she should save her money for something really important.
Then I had an idea of something that would make her feel important and perhaps teach her what money could buy. She could learn how to save for some thing or activity that she wanted and then pay for it. I decided to create personal checkbooks for both her and her sister. They would be connected to their personal savings banks and they could write checks on their accounts. It was a simple little project but it turned out to be very cute.
I copied standard checks from my bank account and adapted them to make checks for the girls with their "personal banks" and addresses on them. I also created a ledger to go in the back of their checkbooks so they could write down all of their "income" from simple little chores or monetary gifts and keep track of their money to write checks when they wanted to buy something special. Their mom and dad could subtract the money from their "banks" to buy the items or activities for them and the girls could keep a running income/outflow of where their accounts stood. I found years ago that if children understood what things cost they learned to spend their money wisely.
My little granddaughters are such generous children they will probably buy something for someone else and that would be a lovely thing to do as well. Making a cute personal bank account is a fun way to teach children about money and, at the same time, give them the ability to do something special with their money.
Then I had an idea of something that would make her feel important and perhaps teach her what money could buy. She could learn how to save for some thing or activity that she wanted and then pay for it. I decided to create personal checkbooks for both her and her sister. They would be connected to their personal savings banks and they could write checks on their accounts. It was a simple little project but it turned out to be very cute.
I copied standard checks from my bank account and adapted them to make checks for the girls with their "personal banks" and addresses on them. I also created a ledger to go in the back of their checkbooks so they could write down all of their "income" from simple little chores or monetary gifts and keep track of their money to write checks when they wanted to buy something special. Their mom and dad could subtract the money from their "banks" to buy the items or activities for them and the girls could keep a running income/outflow of where their accounts stood. I found years ago that if children understood what things cost they learned to spend their money wisely.
My little granddaughters are such generous children they will probably buy something for someone else and that would be a lovely thing to do as well. Making a cute personal bank account is a fun way to teach children about money and, at the same time, give them the ability to do something special with their money.
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