Andre writes the “Lost Parent Diary” blog and he recently contacted me about a podcast I did where I mentioned how my twin boys started saving their pocket money to buy their own laptops when they were about five years old. He wrote it up into a blog post about teaching your kids to save money. He even turned it into a step-by-step guide!
Now I must admit, while we were helping Tay and Hunter save for their laptops, it didn’t seem like we were doing anything super special. I was impressed with is decision to save for a laptop at age five, but apart from that, we were just doing the basics of what I’m sure all parents do with their kids. But the way Andre has written it up makes it sound like we knew what we were doing. It’s all in the writing, I assure you.
I’m excited these days about helping them start their first business this year. We’ve been talking about it for a year or so now and it’s the next logical step.
I’m looking at starting a podcast about parenting at the moment actually. Anyone interested in hosting it should let me know.
Cam – am surprised you’d get your kids to save for a laptop when you are a pioneer in new technologies and understand better than most the importance of using a computer, new technologies, etc
Did you get them to save for electricity? watching TV? travelling by car?
I gave my son his first laptop when he was 3. Since we have bought 2 desktops and an Asus eepc for school.
Well, CD, I gave the kids a desktop when they were 4, to share. But they didn’t want to share, they wanted their own. I would have bought them their own laptop but by then I was a struggling entrepreneur, living off my wits, not coasting in a job pulling a couple of hundred grand a year like some people I know. Not mentioning any names… 🙂
Just give them the laptop? That would ruin the chance to teach them about money management! “Give a man a fish…”