Last Thursday I finally brought my 9 years-old nephew to the bank together with his sister. The last time he went to deposit his saving was two years back in 2008.
Unlike the sister, the boy did not save much. He splurged on soft drinks, stationary and others with his daily pocket allowances. Hence, he only managed to accumulate $40 over a span of 2 years while his sister has achieved 4 times that amount of money.
He was all excited admiring the new numeric updated in his bank book when we left the bank. His sister was awarded with a "Well done" rubber chop for her $100 deposit that day. And the boy was determined to have his future saving to catch up with the sister's.
2 days ago, my sister-in-law told me that the boy started to "charge" her $1 for making her coffee. She was quite amused.
My niece told me that her mother would award her $4 for babysitting her baby brother for her. She proudly told me that's one of her best and quickest way to generate money for saving. Concerned about her character-building, I casually asked her about her motive whenever it comes to helping her mum. Does it always have to be the monetary awards or simply because she is being helpful? Without blinking an eye, she said it is the second one.
I'm quite pleased that the kids have began to be more aware of the importance of saving after the bank trip and are creative in ways to accumulate wealth at their level. On the other hand, I do hope that this new found desire would not "contaminate" their childlike traits of being helpful.
