We start with allowance. We've been giving the kids their own allowance each week for a couple months now (since Kate turned 5). We learn about paying tithing, choose if we want to put money into savings or into our wallets to spend, and then we track all of our spending by saving receipts and writing down our expenses on a ledger. Kate has a box that she keeps all her receipts in and Edwin has an envelope. :)
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| Edwin told us he rolls up his money "like a yoga mat" |
It's been a fun way to help the kids learn early about budgeting, saving, and how to keep track of their money. It's ALSO been great for us when we go places and the kids ask for candy or toys. I tell them that they are absolutely welcome to buy whatever they like with their own money. It has helped cut down on tantrums, and also has started to help them understand and have empathy for the family choices we make while grocery shopping, or going to other stores. We talk about what mommy and daddy have planned to spend money on, and why we can or cannot buy a certain thing, even though we might REALLY want it.
For instance, we went up to Apple Hill a couple weeks ago, and the kids picked out a few things they wanted. We had agreed as a family to buy some apple donuts, caramel apples to share, and a few bags of apples for baking. Kate and Edwin chose to get balloon creations with their own money:
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| a flower! |
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| and a cucumber... yep. He was freakin' in love with this thing. |
But of course they wanted to do EVERYTHING! From pony rides, to face painting, to bounce houses, it was all going to add up super fast. We checked at a couple of the activity stands, and were told that the pony rides were $5. Kate only had $2 in her wallet. We went to the bounce house and they told us that it would be $5 for access to bounce all day. Kate got super frustrated and said, "I want them to stop saying that everything costs $5!" It was an excellent opportunity for us to talk about how we choose to spend our money, and that if we buy candy at the grocery store every week then we don't have the money to do bigger activities when those events come up. Since then the kids have been adding money to their wallets and saying that it's for doing fun things up at Apple Hill. :) Practicing self control at 3 and 5 years old is hard, but we would rather have them learn money lessons NOW instead of later when the stakes are much higher!
In addition to allowance, our FHE usually involves a mini lesson and an activity. :) For a few weeks we worked on our 72 hour kits and emergency preparedness plan.
We also have had lessons on pornography, family history, and played games like Book of Mormon quizzes.
This last week we started "Missionary Mondays". Our goal is to share each week about a friend of family member that we know who is out in the world serving a mission. We talk about where they are, what the place in the world is like, and then write them letters or draw pictures to send them some mail. :)
The first missionary we talked about is Sister Arnold. She is serving off the coast of West Africa in Cabo Verde.
I met Sister Arnold in my German class at BYUI. She even joined us for Thanksgiving a couple years ago!
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| Thanksgiving in Rexburg: November 2015 |
It's so fun to see where she is now, and read her weekly emails about learning Portuguese and teaching the gospel in Praia.
I'm really glad that we've been able to make Family Home Evening a better habit now that we're a little more settled. We've always done weekly activities (and really when your kids are little and not in school yet it feels like every day is Family Home Evening, haha). But it's fun to see how excited they get now about the things we do together. They are much more interactive and love to learn. Having a designated night to be together has been a great way to check in and make sure that at least once a week we are learning and growing together.
Kate and Edwin are growing up so fast! We love having them in our family. Even though I try to document it, it's hard to remember everything. :) I'll end here with a funny video of Kate and Edwin just being themselves. ;)
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