Credit

A few days ago, Penny and I were playing grocery store. 

She loves to fill the cart and then I assign everything a price and we do the math to get to the total for her cart of groceries. We've been learning about money and how the different bills and coins have different values. She seems to be understanding. We add up the total of the toys in her cart and she has $9.50 worth of groceries. I ask her for her money and she says "Credit, please." UUGH! She is so observant.

But really, what am I teaching her? For me, using the credit card keeps me accountable for each penny I spend. But she doesn't see the time RC spends managing our household budget each month. She doesn't understand that we use our credit card in a way that allows us to better track how we spend. She doesn't understand that we pay that entire credit card bill down to zero before each and every due date. She doesn't understand that buying with the credit card means these things aren't free. 

What she does understand is that she takes our credit card from my hand at the grocery store each week and swipes it to pay. It's almost like a game. She doesn't understand that we are incredibly blessed and lucky to be able to afford to buy groceries every week. 

I've got lots of teaching to do. And lots of thinking to do. Because she clearly learns from each and every action. She's still got so very much to learn.