What is self-recrimination?

How do you teach the value of money?  I’d tried using an app for a while for pocket money. They were very excited to get a star when they completed a job and saw the dial move closer to whatever they were saving for. Then their attention and enthusiasm for making their bed, tidying up, taking out the rubbish, waned. Funny that.

So we ‘cashed out’ from the app and moved to tracking progress on a piece of paper stuck to the fridge. Old school! They both made it to £34, which for simplicity converted to €34 (foreign exchange lesson is next year).

Of course, even before we went away, they were dying to spend it. Any potential opportunity to buy plastic tat (aka junk for those outside the UK) was like a black hole sucking them in…

I was very proud of my son on a couple of occasions, when after much internal and (usually) external debate, he decided to save his money instead of getting something for the sake of it. He’s growing up!

That is until the boat incident. When trying to decide between an inflatable (mildly useful on holiday) and a plastic fantastic boat (awful), the decision was made when the boat was dropped… and broken. €10.

Not long later, an entire bottle of coke was spilt. As this was the fourth occasion and immediately followed a warning from my husband, he had to pay for his almost drink. €4.

We somehow managed to avoid the shops for a time, until the last day of the holiday, when we made the mistake of going into a toy shop. My daughter had long since spent her money, so while she did her best to convince us she would be good for a loan, she was introduced to the concept of ‘browsing’.

In a similar vein, our son found two things he liked. Neither of which he could afford. He attempted his best sales pitch: if he went for the cheaper option, we would save money, he’d get three aeroplanes, a boat that made noises, and it came in a big box…. all for €34.

As he stared longingly at the box, I watched the moment of dawning comprehension as he realised he would have been able to afford it but for the above mentioned events.

I couldn’t have planned a key life lesson better had I tried. Some consolation as we carried both children out in tears?