Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Teenage Economics 101

My two teenagers are polar opposites when it comes to their spending habits.

One will tell you they need lunch money, will pocket $3.00 of the $5.00 you gave them, and save it, and will then buy something in bulk with the remaining $2.00 which they will then spread out over the next two lunches.  This child is sitting on an impressive four figure piggy bank balance currently.

The second child will tell you they need $5.00 for lunch money, will repay $2.00 to the friend they borrowed from the day before, and will then spend $5.00 on lunch after they've managed to borrow another $2.00 from a different friend.  This child has dust in their piggy bank.

You can guess which child was the subject in this conversation that took place after play practice last night:

Him:  I'm STARVING, I couldn't buy dinner tonight because I don't have ANY money at ALL.

Me:  That's too bad.  I thought you had some cash?

Him:  Nope, nothing.

Me:  But we gave you a bunch of cash just the other day....

Him:  I already spent that!

Me:  Well, maybe when you have a surplus like that, you should plan ahead and think about saving it for later.

Him:  Yeah, well, later came a long time ago.

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