All About Your Child

This happened on the 2nd week of school.

Keatkeat: “Mommy, today my friend want to take money from my wallet.”

Me: “Tell me the whole story.”

Keatkeat: “A friend said this friend lost his wallet and got no food to eat. Then before I put my wallet in my pocket after I buy food, he just take my wallet away and want to take the money. I said “Cannot! Don’t Take My Money! My Mommy will scold.” And I take it back from him. Later I don’t know why he got food to eat.”

Me: “Why did you feel that I will scold you?”

Keatkeat: “Because you always teach me that money is important. Cannot waste money. He take my money away is wasting my money.”

Me: “But don’t you think he is very pitiful? He has nothing to eat because he has no money?”

Keatkeat: “Yes. So you think I should give him the money?”

Me: “When you have a friend who lost his wallet or have no money to eat, it is best that he should approach the teachers or an adult. They will know better how to help him. You did a Great Job Keat!”

Keatkeat: “Orh.” (meaning “ok”)

*** I forsee his post may strike opposition from some parents in thinking that I am not teaching my boy to be compassionate.

But to me, my 6 year old is still unable to differentiate a liar from a honest chap. Even adults have problem with this, true? And being children, their kindness are easily taken advantage of. I am not saying that THIS friend is lying, I am just protecting my boy from being caught in a situation like this:-

Imagine this: If KK had given him the money or promise to lend it to him. If this boy is really dishonest, and refused to return the money; on top of that, if he comes again to my boy the next day for money again (furthermore, notice? He did not ask. He just took Keatkeat’s wallet as if it was his.); Keatkeat or the boy would think that this is perfectly alright, because it has become a routine.

My two boys do ‘donate‘ to blind people who sell tissue papers or handicapped on the road. In some sense, I think being compassionate is an in-born thing in all children.

Seriously, for this incident, I am VERY PROUD of Keatkeat. I love and approve the way he handled the situation. Good Job, Keat!

Yesterday at my in-laws’ place, I had a mini chat with my 2nd SIL.

SIL: “Have you decided how much pocket money you want to give Keatkeat?”

Me: “$1.50. But I wonder if its enough. Because a plate of Char Siew Rice (roasted pork rice) already costs $1.20.”

SIL: “So you are going to make bento for him everyday?”

Me: “Nahhh… I’m a lazy mommy. *giggle* I don’t intend to do that. I will probably give him a heavy lunch. Since their snack time is only 3hours from his lunch. Don’t think he will be that hungry. Maybe he might buy a fishball or two.”

SIL: “Beware. He might spend his money at the bookshop. Buying erasers and stationeries.”

Me: “I allow him to do that.”

SIL: eyes widened “Huh? You are the first mommy among all the mommies I know which allow this.”

Me: “I think all kids are the same. The more the parents forbid, the more they will do. The more they will ‘hide’. The more they will ‘lie’. So I just let him be. He will get sick of it sooner or later….” *Smile*

Indeed, the way I think as a Mommy is very different from most parents. Some of my parenting tactics are considered FORBIDDEN. *giggle* Oh well, I’m just different. I’m ALIEN MOMMY! *Grin*

For this pocket money matter, its an extremely simple rule. Once its given, it belongs to the receiver. As simple as that. What the receiver wants to do with it, he bears the responsibility.

If he chooses to spend the entire $1.50 on stationeries and found out that his tummy rumbles during lesson after break time. Do you think he will do it again tomorrow? What a kid can handle least, is hunger.

Some say, “Don’t you want to cultivate his habits of saving?” I laugh at this question all the time!

HE is one money magnet! With his great mathematical-brain, he decides how much he sells his toys on eBay, so that he knows how much he can get back after dividing the sale amount with his bro, and hence how much he can *Kaching* into this piggy bank.

In fact, he is a miser! *giggle* Calculative! Yup that’s him!

So am I afraid that he will not want to save up? NO!  *giggle*

The response I have been getting from my Self-Created money lessons are so encouraging. Thank you everyone.

Please DO NOT jump into this Lesson 4 till
Money Lesson 1 for preschooler
Money Lesson 2 for preschooler
Money Lesson 3 for preschooler
have been MASTERED.

This will be my last post for this series of ‘Money Lessons for Preschooler‘. But seriously, this is not the last step, because as all of us know, the world transacts in dollars more than cents. I am doing these 4 posts because I received some emails asking ‘How to Start teaching my children about money?’

I think I had done my job in teaching how to ‘Start’ and that you lovely people are benefiting from these four posts. I Thank You for giving me a chance to share…. Thank you.

Ok, here goes Lesson 4, which is what I call Good Money Habits :-

Very much like Lesson 3, but this time Keatkeat was the Buyer and I was the Seller with products that are NOT labeled with price tags.

This trained Keatkeat to ask “How Much is This?’

Step 1: Keatkeat was ONLY allowed to use $1.00 coins. (So that I can train him to have a habit of checking the change he receives back)

Step 2: Keatkeat picked up something and ask “How much is this?”

Step 3: I will say a price that is LESS THAN a dollar or consists of dollars and cents. Eg. $1.60

Step 4: He decides whether to give me A $1.00 or Many $1.00. (This trained him to give just ‘good’ enough to get a change back and NOT give too much.)

Step 5: BEFORE he gave me the money, he did his ’sums’ in his head as to how much change he should get back.

Step 6: I would PURPOSELY give the wrong change. Sometimes too much. Sometimes too little.

Step 7: Keatkeat checked his change, before he put them in his ‘wallet’. This was where he practised these 3 sentences:

1. “You gave too much. You should take  _____ back.”
2. “You gave too little. You should give me another _____ more.” (this trained his mental calculations.)
3. “Thank you.” (when the correct change is FINALLY given)

The purpose of Lesson 4 is to train his habit of:-

1. KNOWING how much change he should receive, BEFORE handing over the money.
2. CHECKING the change FIRST before putting it into his wallet.
3. PUTTING the change into his wallet FIRST before taking the item. (I have seen so many kids dropping their change when their small hands were trying to hold their coins and the purchased items all at the same time. *Shake Head*)

Once this LESSON 4 is mastered and that dollars are trained (which I am NOT going to go further into it), your child is ready for the world of transactions.

Learning Money is GREAT Fun!!! *Kaching!*

Oh, can I take this opportunity to shout out that my boys received payment for THEIR 3RD ITEM which was sold on eBay 2 days after they sold their 2ND item!!!

*Kaching Kaching Kaching!*

After the good laugh yesterday, its back to money lesson time….

Our self-created Money Lesson 3 is what I call: Its time for PLAY!

**The amount of coins used for Lesson 3 is the same as Lesson 2, except 9 more pieces of $1.00 coins are needed.

Step 1: I told Keatkeat to bring me 9 toys.

Step 2: I wrote down $0.10 to $0.90 on stickers.

Step 3: Keatkeat stuck the 9 stickers each on every toy.

Step 4: I grabbed a handful of coins  for myself. The rest (majority) of the coins are left for Keatkeat.

Step 5: I was the Buyer, Keatkeat was the Seller. (There is a reason behind this….)

Step 6: I started buying his toys. I need to train his systematic counting first. Hence I started with the $0.10 toy first, followed by $0.20 till it reached $0.90.

Step 7: For Every toy, irregardless of the value, I will ALWAYS start paying him with a $0.10 coin. Obviously, other than the $0.10 valued toy, the other toys, he will have to say “It is NOT enough. You need to give me ____ cents more.”

For Every toy, I will buy it 10 times, BEFORE I move to the next toy. Here is the example:-

i- I picked up the toy valued at $0.10
ii- I gave Keatkeat $0.10
iii- Keatkeat would say, “Thank you.”
iv- I returned the toy back to him, and he returned the $0.10 back to me.
v- I picked up the toy valued at $0.10 AGAIN.
vi- I gave Keatkeat $0.20
vii- Keatkeat would say, “You gave too much. Here’s $0.10 back to you.”

i-vii is repeated until $1.00 is given (by me).

I call this a ‘Step Up Calculation’. The gradual increase of how much to give back is easier for the Preschooler to comprehend.

Hence, after the $0.10 valued toy has been bought using ‘$0.10 to $1.00′, the next toy, which is valued at $0.20 will be bought.

Again, I started giving Keatkeat $0.10 to buy the $0.20 toy.

Keatkeat would say, “Sorry, Not Enough. Please give $0.10 more.”

Thus i-vii is repeated again for this $0.20 valued toy. The ‘Step-Up’ continued till all the toys were bought over 10 times each.

Money Lessons 4 will be in the next post…..

A child MUST master Lesson 1 before coming to this lesson.

I call our self-created Money Lesson 2 > Creative Lesson.

We showed Keatkeat a world of possibilities, by training his mind to see beyond what is before his eyes.

In lesson 1, the coins were grouped with the same denominations. In Lesson 2, it will be a combination of different denominations. Again, since this is just for illustration purposes, 5cents and 1cent are NOT used here.

Prepare AT LEAST 1 piece of $1.00 coin, 5 pieces of 50 cents, 18 pieces of 20 cents and 39 pieces of 10 cents.

Step 1: Revise Lesson 1 (Important! Since its a build-up from it)

Step 2: I asked, “How many ways can you make 30 cents?”

Step 3: Keatkeat proceeds to form 2 combinations. Combi 1 - 3pieces of 10 cents and Combi 2 – 1piece of 20 cents and 1piece of 10 cents.

Step 4: “Very Good!” *Clap Clap Clap* (Always Remembering to Praise )

Step 5: “There are 3 combinations for 40cents. Can you show me?”

Step 6: Keatkeat proceeds to form 1 combination after next.

Step 7: At every correct combination, I would say “Good. You have __ combination(s) correct. ___ more to go.” (Its important to tell him how many combinations there are. In this way, he will know how far or near he is to the goal.)

Step 8: “Very Good!” *Clap Clap Clap* (when all the combinations are done.) Clear away ALL COINS and start with the next level.

Repeat step 5 – 8 till $1.00 is reached.

4 combinations for 50 cents
5 combinations for 60 cents
6 combinations for 70 cents
7 combinations for 80 cents
8 combinations for 90 cents
11 ways for 1 Dollar (including the $1 coin itself)

As the combination increases to 7 or 8, Keatkeat does have trouble figuring the last 1 to 2 combinations.

Since Mathematics is all logic. Whenever he has ‘mind-block’ I will give clues like, “Look at the combinations that has 20 cents and 10 cents. ‘This’ has 4 20 cents. ‘This’ has 3 20 cents. ‘This has 2 20 cents. Four, three, two….What’s next?”

“I Know! ONE !” yelled Keatkeat.

Lesson 2 was considered successful when I need not give him anymore clues and he could get all combinations for each level correctly on his own.

After Keatkeat had mastered this, we went on to Lesson 3 (which will be in the next post).

My boys were introduced to money when they were really young. Keatkeat helped out in my stall a number of times when he was just 3 years old. The coin he loved most was $1.00. I was clearing my stuff at a ridiculous price of $1 then. So this coin was the denomination he saw most frequently.

Remember my post on training them to keep record of their ‘income‘ and ‘expenses‘? Its been a year now and Yes, they are still doing it. Its never too young to learn such basic money management.

To prepare him for school next year. We created a series of money lessons for him. Here’s what I did for Lesson 1:

This will work ONLY if your child knows simple addition. And for my mathematician Keatkeat. Teaching him money calculation was a breeze.

Keatkeat was introduced to different denominations many years ago. Started with the smallest denomination > 5 cents (since 1cent is no longer in use).

Since this is just for illustration purposes, I am using 10 cents as the smallest denomination. You can choose to start with 1 cents or 5 cents.

Step 1: Prepare at least 10 pieces of 10 cent coins, 5 pieces of 20 cent coins, 2 pieces of 50 cent coins and 1 piece of 1 dollar coin for this 1st lesson.

Step 2: Place ONE 20 cent coin on a paper with a line drawn at the bottom.

Step 3: I asked, “How many 10 cent coins make 20 cents? Put the 10 cent coins ‘below’ that 20 cent coin.” (below the line)

Step 4: Keatkeat took 2pieces of 10 cent coins and put ‘below‘ the 20 cent coin as shown below:

Step 5: “Very Good!” (Praise Your Child! Never forget *wink*)

Step 6: I Removed the 10 cent coins.

Step 7: I placed another 20 cent coin ON TOP of the 20 cent coin on the table.

Step 8: “How much does 2 20 cent coins make?”

Step 9: “40 cents.”

Step 10: “How many 10 cent coins would make 40 cents? Put the number of 10 cent coins ‘below’ the 40 cents.”

Repeating Step 5-10 by adding ONE 20 cent each time until it reaches $1.00, i.e. 5 pieces of 20 cents.

Step 11: I asked Keatkeat to pick out the $1.00 coin from the bowl which contained many coins (I had prepared $10 worth of assorted coins).

Step 12: I told him to place the $1.00 coin next to the 20 cent coins as such:

Next, add in the 50 cents.

Step 13: “How many 50 cent coins would make 1.00 dollar? Put the number of 50 cent coins between the 20cents and the $1.” (I shifted the $1.00 further away from the 20cents)

Linking everything:

Me: “10 10cents is EQUAL to?” (moving my finger from the 10cent coins to the 20cents)

Keatkeat: “5 20cents”

Me: “Which is also equal to?” (moving my finger from the 20cent coins to the 50cent coins)

Keatkeat: “2 50cents.”

Me: “Which is also equal to?” (moving my finger from the 50cent coins to the 1 dollar coin)

Keatkeat: “1 Dollar.”

After which I asked Keatkeat to say the equation on his own with me saying “which is equal to?” and the moving of my index finger from one group of coins to another.

Lesson 1 is considered to have completed when I could shut my mouth and ‘keep‘ my finger to myself, while Keatkeat recite the whole equation on his own.

Lesson 2 continues in the next post…

My long time readers would know that I have been clearing my 7 years of retail stuff on eBay. My opportunistic boys took advantage of it too since a year ago. They have been witnessing their Mommy selling stuff through her eBay account.

They love it because:

1. Mommy has extra money to buy things that the family needs.
2. Selling things help to make the buyer happy, because the buyer found what he/she wants.
3. Selling on eBay allows Mommy to stay at home and not stay away from home 12 hours everyday in the past.

Today, they did their 2nd deal. (1st deal post over here) *Kaching*

As usual, they did their accounts and bookkeeping.

“Mommy, sell ‘THIS’ and ‘This’ and ‘This’ too! So that I can have more money to put into my piggy bank. Yippee!” promoted my enthusiastic Keatkeat.

Indeed, more ‘Yippee!’ moments to come…. *Grin*

Not too long ago, I did a post on how I gave my elder boy a ‘motivating‘ reason to learn spelling > so that he can read the instructions and the pop-up messages on his Facebook games.

Today I gave him an even stronger reason to learn spelling. Because of our retail background Keatkeat had seen how ‘tough‘ it was to earn just a dollar.

There are times when my boys were there with me at my stalls. Come to think of it, its been 2+years that I have not lived that kind of stressful lifestyle already! Yippee!

So Binbin was about 2+ and Keatkeat was 3+ during that time. Binbin would naturally pass a ‘bowl‘ to anyone who comes to my stall and Keatkeat would ask very politely “You want to buy earrings from my Mommy ah?”

*huge laugh*

I SWEAR I HAD NEVER TOLD THEM TO DO THAT.

They watched. They learned. They followed.

So since young, they learned that money is attained through hardwork. Through hours of standing. Through staying away from the comfort of home. Through late night setup and dismantle of the stalls….

After I started blogging, I understand that in this new century, passive income is so easily achievable. You earn when you sleep!

So today, while Keatkeat is doing his last piece of worksheet, something he always choose to procrastinate in doing > writing a story of something; I gave him another reason why spelling IS important.

He is a one sentence kind of kid. Simply said ‘He is lazy’. Who’s not?! *wink*

“Keatkeat, do you know why are you doing this? Do you know why is it important to do this?”

“Don’t Know.”

“Look at the number of lines given to you. Remember when you were in K1, there were only 3 lines. Now you have 6 lines for you to write. Very soon, when you learn more words and able to spell more words on your own, you will be writing 10 lines, 1 page, 3 pages…. and very soon, you will be writing a BOOK!

A book that you can put on bookshelves in bookshops to sell. So while you are taking your nap, people are buying your books from the bookshops! While you are sleeping, your money is going into your bank account. *Kaching Kaching Kaching*.

You don’t need to go out and meet clients like your papa. You don’t need to spend time infront of the computer like mommy, but you have money coming into your bank account when you are sleeping. All you need to do is go to the ATM and withdraw the money to buy…..”

“My toys!!! Yeah!!! I like that!! Ok, I will write a long story today….”

And for the first time, he wrote 4 descriptive sentences willingly! *wink*