Dollar Menu

April 20, 2009 in Parenting | 5 comments

I’m glad Samantha is growing up before cash totally disappears.  It’s going to be more difficult for future generations to understand money when all transactions are electronic.  As it is, Sam hardly ever sees cash, except at McDonald’s and maybe when the pizza delivery Peopleguy comes to our house.

Samantha’s aunt gave her a lovely silver bank when she was born.  It’s been sitting on her bedroom shelf collecting dust ever since, but Adam and I have been looking forward to the time when she could start using it.  Yesterday, we finally got around to giving her a few pennies to put in the bank.  I sat with her on the floor and gave her a cup with a dozen or so pennies it in, and showed her how to put one in the bank.  She grabbed the cup from me and said, BYE-BYE MOMMY! which is her way of asking to be left alone.  I sat in a chair nearby and watched as she joyously started shoving pennies in the bank, saying to herself:

SAVE MONEY.  GO TO DONALD’S.  BUY FRENCH FRIES.  SAVE MONEY.  GO TO DONALD’S.  BUY FRENCH FRIES.

  1. objectivistDad on April 20, 2009 at 11:50 am

    There was an age when our son loved to play board games that involved handling cash: first, “Allowance” then “Monopoly”. Now even Monopoly has a credit-card worked into the game (only seen the ads, not sure how that works).

  2. Man o' Steele on April 20, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    That money-saving mantra is the most adorable thing I’ve heard in a long time. Congrats on having a value-loving child capable of long-range thinking.

    Kids love money. It won’t be long before you can put her to work around the house for cash. She has the financial mind, now she just needs the motor skills.

    Bye-Bye Mommy is pretty darn cute, too.

  3. Amy on April 20, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    oD: I’ve never heard of “Allowance.” I’ll have to check it out. Call me a purist, but I’ll stick with my old Monopoly game.

    MoS: I must say, this was probably the funniest thing Sam has ever said. I have no idea where she got, “save money,” but putting it all together is a feat of intelligence I didn’t think she was capable of!

  4. Gaia M on April 21, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    Amy! I love how often I laugh out loud at your Sam stories, then call my husband in and tell him, “see honey – this is why we have to have kids!” Thanks and I hope to meet you and your family someday… Gaia

  5. Amy on April 21, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    Gaia: And she’s even cuter in person. :) I see you live in Alaska. Now I’d love to visit there. We almost had a chance to live there for a year, which would have been exciting, but I don’t think I could have handled the darkness in winter.