#194 Book Fair

This week my son had a book fair at school. The schools are very smart about how they do this. They send the kids into the library where all of the books are displayed with a piece of paper and a pencil. The kids then write down the books they want, where they are located and how much they cost. There are lots of parent volunteers there for those who have trouble writing. My son came home with a list of books worth about $50.00.




Now I love that my son loves to read, and I do want to support his school, but this is a lot of money. Especially when I don’t get to preview the books. And when we’ve already contributed substantial amounts to a capital campaign and a summer reading and math program. There isn’t a never-ending supply of money.



My husband and I decided this would be a good time to try and teach our son the value of money. We told him we would give him a specified amount of money and he could divide it up any way he wanted. If there were more things he wanted he would have to spend his own money.



My husband then sat down with him and together they emptied his piggy banks and counted his money. They then discussed the concepts of saving, giving and spending. My husband asked my son to pretend he had $10.00 and then decide how many dollars would go into each category. He decided he should save $5.00, spend $3.00 and give $2.00. I was pretty impressed. In the past he has declared his intentions to open a free store when he is older to give things to people who can’t afford them so part of me thought he would want to give all of his money away. Then again, he had that huge list of books he wanted so part of me thought he would want to spend all of his money. He surprised me with his balanced approach, I was really proud. He wound up buying the journal with the pen that writes in invisible ink, and 2 other books that he really wanted.



I was telling this story to my mom and she reminded me of how differently Eric and I approached giving as children. We went to Hebrew school where we were supposed to bring in tzedakah, or money for charity. I wanted to give all of my money to help those less fortunate. Over the years I’ve gotten a little more fiscally conservative, but still giving is important to me.



Eric didn’t want to give any of his money. He reasoned that he shouldn’t have to give away his money to people who had lost all of theirs. This isn’t to say that he wasn’t generous or caring, because he was, he was just always against the welfare state. He mellowed somewhat in his beliefs over time as well.



I think Eric would be proud of how his nephew handled himself. At the end of the year we’ll let him pick a charity to donate his “give” money to. Maybe we’ll add to that as well.