We've recently started giving Liam an allowance, to try and start talking about money, etc., since I'm pretty certain that he has no idea what money even is. I think understanding money is even harder these days when we only use a debit card, and so he has hardly even seen "real" currency, and buying things just means swiping a card.
Anyway, he has a few dollars now saved up, and so on Friday I took him to Michael's Craft Store to buy a little dinosaur he had his eye on. He took $4, and picked out two dinosaurs (they were on sale for $1 and $2 each). We stood in the only line open, waiting, and a nice older lady got in line behind us. She saw Liam's dinosaurs and his fistful of money, and asked him if he was buying them himself. He nodded. They opened a register next to us, and I told the cashier to take the lady behind us, since we could take a while. So Liam pushed his money and his dinosaurs onto the counter and never said a word (he's very quiet in public). He got 3 quarters back.
Next thing I know, the lady from the next line walks by and says "Since you spent all your allowance on those dinosaurs, I want to buy them for you," and hands him $4. I protested, but she ran out the door pretty fast (despite her cane) smiling. Liam didn't really understand the whole thing. I tried to impress upon him that it was SUPER nice of this lady, and is NOT something that usually happens. I thought it was very sweet, but could this have just ruined our lesson about money?? Now is he going to think that when you buy things you actually MAKE money? After all, he ended up with 2 new dinosaurs and an extra 75 cents in his pocket!
Maybe so...but at least we were able to learn about the kindness of strangers. That is not something that happens every day either!
