Monday, August 28, 2006

a father and daughter conversation

anna: dad, how much money do we have?

dad: i don't know (surprised by the question).

anna: well, how much is on your checks?

dad: i don't know (like he would tell her at age 6--she wouldn't even understand, but then again) why?

anna: well, how come we don't get to buy ten dollar things?

apparently she has found something that is ten dollars? or one of her friends has something that was ten dollars? i don't know. but what else i don't know is where did she learn about his "checks". he has direct deposit. where is she learning all this crap? is it first grade?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was pretty sure "Assessing Your Parent's Financial Standing" was part of the last quarter of first grade curriculum, but Anna is awfully bright, so maybe she's skipping ahead....

Unknown said...

I say share what's appropriate. She won't understand it now but it's better than making money and finances a taboo subject - I'm ashamed to admit that even as a freshman in college I had NO concept of money. I just knew I didn't have any and my parent didn't have any and if I had $100 in the bank I was rich and could eat. I clearly remember thinking if I made $20,000/year I would be set for life. I'm not sure about what details you should share with a first grader but I know I didn't like it being such an off-limits scary topic growing up.

Anonymous said...

children have a great sense of learning. i wish i could be as eager as they are. sometimes all i want is a quite place to type without being asked 1500 questions.