Had out first visit of the Tooth Fairy on Monday night. The boy’s first tooth came out, and that most magical of creatures visited and placed a coin under his pillow while he slept.
It got me thinking about pocket money. I remember one talk I heard by John Wimber when he was talking about pocket money – and he said that he always gave his children pocket money in small denominations. So (to translate to Stirling), if they were getting 1 pound of pocket money, it would arrive as ten 10p’s.
The reason for this is so the kids could easily give away some, save some, and have the rest to spend. I don’t think he enforced this, but he encouraged them to give away 10%, save 10%, and have the remaining 80% to spend straight away. I guess if there was a particular thing to save for, more would go in the pot…
I’m in two minds about this. On the one hand it smacks to me a little of indoctrination. On the other hand, I firmly believe that both charity and saving for the future are very important. Both these things are key antidotes to the credit culture, and who else will help the boy learn about money management?
Incidentally, the tooth fairy delivered a single coin, so I guess she doesn’t share this view!!