How To Teach Your Child About The Value Of Money With A Simple Birthday Gift!

 Recently on my nephew’s 8th birthday, I visited Palladium Mall along with my family to scour for the perfect birthday gift. The task at hand was huge and daunting since this was undisputedly the most important day of the year and any substandard offering would be held against me for an entire year. 

 Also, merely two days ago, on my birthday I had received some priceless treasures from his armour- a small box of gems, two packets of chips (his favourite green ones), a water bottle he had picked up from a commercial airline and packets of sugar from Starbucks. All these were things that he loved, had collected over many months and had chosen to part with for my sake. How can I compete with that?

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After repeatedly asking the birthday boy what he wanted for his birthday we got the same answer. “I already told you five times, I want an archery set Bua!â€_x009d_ he said

“An archery set? No, you don’t want that Beta!â€_x009d_ I weighed in with my expert adult opinion.

“He will be shooting darts across the house and he’s going to break a few bulbs for sure. Also, it’s an expensive toy and he has so many toys. He doesn’t need it at allâ€_x009d_ the granny and the mommy declared pointing out the perils of a growing boy’s interests!

After a lot of discussion, we decided that he needed a pair of sunglasses. And since he is a growing boy we should choose a respectable brand because that’s what the neighbours’ kids have. We walked into the high-end sunglass store “Sunglass Hutâ€_x009d_ and scoured various options of sunglasses debating on brand, durability, cut, colour and what not.

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“We should buy Armani. It’s eight thousand and that’s a steal, it’s even on sale!â€_x009d_

“But I already have sunglasses and they are just fine. They even have the cool blue reflectors. Why can’t I just use those and get an archery set instead? That’s only two thousand rupees anywayâ€_x009d_

“Because…â€_x009d_ I said very patiently “You don’t need them Beta. We want you to have the sunglasses.â€_x009d_

And then we all fell silent. Here was a kid who just wanted to be a child and play with something fun. But we insisted on him having something that we thought he needed. Truth be told no eight-year-old needs sunglasses worth eight thousand! We were introducing him to the dazzling world of brands that encash upon the insecurity of people all over the world – and we thought he needed that? He would probably experience such pressures once he grew up, why did we want to burden him so early with something that’s not important?

It is us adults that confuse a child and make him feel that he needs things that we want. Then it is us adults who complain incessantly about how children have no value for money.Watch what you say, moms! Statements like “Her designer bag is so trendy, I wish I could buy thatâ€_x009d_ or “ I could never buy those tacky clothesâ€_x009d_ or even “I need a hair spa and a nail spa so desperatelyâ€_x009d_ is sending out all the wrong messages.

Also, we finally bought an archery set that day. It was for two thousand rupees, it was something all of us adults agreed upon was absolutely useless. It was also something that created hours of joy and playtime for a little child and saved his innocence. Birthday gifts are indeed special!

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