Perhaps as a result of the instructive nature of the mainstream education system we’re all made to go through, we tend to think of the process of teaching and learning as something which is to be carved up and divided into isolated ‘lessons’ and it really shouldn’t be that way. Rather, everyday life situations and events should perhaps be seized upon as opportunities to deliver the unending range of essential life lessons, even though a direct link may not seem all too obvious.
One of the most important lessons in life parents are obliged to teach their kids is that of the value of money and yet how many parents actually do that actively? Do you remember your own parents ever sitting you down and teaching you how to budget for example, or perhaps even walking you through their financial decisions so that you can learn something out of it?
Anyway, it’s on you now to break the cycle if that is indeed what’s required, and as far as delivering this particular life lesson (the value of money), you’re fortunate in that every single day and every single aspect of a normal day presents ample opportunities for you to utilise as part of the delivery of that lesson. I mean is there anything in this world which doesn’t in some or other way have a link to money and the associated value which is actually represented by that money?
Although the aim is for you to deliver a bigger-picture understanding of what the true value of money is, trying to come up with a bigger-picture approach from the get-go can prove to be a bit overwhelming. Consequently, it’s perhaps better to isolate specific areas of your lives as a family and introduce some lessons in the value of money in that specific context. From there you can then revisit the bigger-picture.
Let’s go through an example to drive the point home, shall we?
When I said that every single aspect of our daily lives is in some way linked to money and its associated value I really meant it literally, which makes it easy to start with the delivery of the lesson having literally chosen any aspect of life. Let’s go with the celebration of special occasions, shall we?
Let’s say you’re all to attend a wedding as a family and you want to get the soon-to-be-wedded couple a nice gift to mark the occasion. Take the kids along when shopping for the gift, but don’t just buy the first one you come across. Having them be part of the process of comparing the prices of the various wedding gift baskets on offer would perhaps go a long way in opening them up to how the associated value can be measured, but you would proceed by emphasising details such as how the gifts bought online from vendors such as Broadway Basketeers perhaps have more items per dollar spent, consequently signifying better value for money.
The bigger-picture can then be reintroduced when comparing how gifts are priced in relation to something like those items which make up for our essential survival needs, like bread and milk for example.
