by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book ) (Available of my website, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble)

Train up a child…

Children Learn Best by Doing

       It would be much easier if children always picked up the understanding of certain things simply by observation and listening to the talk of adults.  The reality is that very few children do.  We can’t depend on children learning to be thrifty, for instance, simply by hearing us talk about the need for money to pay bills.  One of the best ways to teach thrift is to allow the children to become involved in record keeping, earning money, and watching for bargains.  There are ways this can be done fairly easily with a little thought to the matter.

       By the time a child reaches third or fourth grade, that child should be able to add and subtract.  A good learning experience for a child of this age would be to allow that child to keep a record of the electric bill for the family.  The numbers could be added each month to the total from the month before, rather than waiting until the end of the year to add a long column.  By doing this, the child observes how the bill goes up and down at various times.  It can be pointed out to the child which appliances use the most electricity and a discussion could be held as to how to lower the bill. As the child makes suggestions to the family of ways to save on electricity, a sense of importance and responsibility is fostered in the child and at the same time that child is learning the practicality of math and the importance of thrift.

       Even a very small child can help clip coupons from newspapers.  Older children can compare prices.  In some cases, parents have allowed the children to keep the money saved by using the coupons.  Keeping the money provides a real incentive to clip coupons and at the same time a method of earning money is provided.

       Many folks do not take the time to check grocery receipts for errors.  If older children are allowed to keep any money earned by finding an error, they are certainly going to be checking those bills.  As they check the bills, without realizing it, they are learning the costs of items purchased.  They become aware of the value of money and the need to watch how it is spent.

       There are many, many ways that children can learn if we let them become involved in the family activities. We need to remember that telling is not teaching.  Children learn best by experience and hands-on.