Our Daughter is Using her Currency

Our Daughter's Currency shared how stickers and progress chart drawings were of value to our nearly four year old. We are now offering the opportunity use her stickers to "purchase" things that she would like. For example, for 25 earned stickers, she can choose to have the family go to her favorite restaurant for a meal. Of course, mom and dad still pick up the bill.

From this exercise, our daughter is starting to understand the concept of "earning" and "accumulation." She receives stickers for completing certain tasks and she needs to accumulate a certain amount before "purchasing" a reward. Interestingly, she also takes pride that she "earned" the stickers for her reward. Finally, she also understand that "earning" takes effort to do something she might not do on her own and that "earning" delays getting what she would like.

I also like that this exercise is partly about teaching responsibility. We are rewarding her for doing things like getting dressed in the morning, brushing her teeth and taking her plate to the sink. I am against paying a child for learning her expected chores. However, the stickers seem like a reasonable compromise. Her contribution of chores is rewarded by commensurate decision input into where the family goes for dinner, which I think is a fair tradeoff :-)

Although our daughter does know about money and its use, we haven't moved to the allowance stage. I expect that is still at least a year away and a new opportunity for me be tested as a parent :-)

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial or parenting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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