Discovering Money

Yesterday afternoon, DD realised for the first time that she had money. She's had it for quite some time, about 6 months at least, in her little purse that sits in the shelves in her playroom, and she often plays with it in her games, but yesterday it actually hit her that she could use it to BUY stuff. So at 3pm, she got herself all dressed up, shoes and hat on, handbag (from the dress up box) on her shoulder, and asked if we could go shopping. How could I resist?

Our first stop was the second hand shop, where she looked around carefully, and finally chose some huge fairy wings. We looked at the price tag, found out the price (second hand shops so conveniently have round dollar amounts, rather than all those confusing $1.95 type prices), worked out what money she would need, and how much change she would get, then she went up and paid for it.

Onto the newsagent, where she found some balloons and a magazine, then to the supermarket, where she found some chocolate coins. Then near the end of the supermarket, she found a My Little Pony. Now one of DD's favourite things are My Little Pony's. My sister has quite a collection, and DD loves to play with them while visiting. She's started building up a collection herself, all bought second hand at markets or garage sales, her eventual goal being to have more than Aunty Mandy. So I suspected this was going to be interesting.

We looked at the price on the shelf, $18. We counted out her money. She was $2 short. I offered to lend her the $2, but said that she would have to put the chocolate coins back, as she couldn't get both. I expected at least hesitation, but no, she quickly put the My Little Pony back, and said she'd take the chocolate.

I expect lots more fun shopping trips like this one, where we learn about the value of money, both numerically, and in terms of evaluating what we choose to buy with it. Hopefully it will also help at those times when I tell her she can't have something because it is too expensive, or not worth the price that is being asked.