Of course at the time you don't really appreciate it, because you don't know anything else...but once you reach adulthood and are suddenly thrust into the world of financial matters, bills, wages, money struggles and so on you soon start to long for those simpler childhood days again - when your only knowledge of money was your weekly pocket money and your only concern was how to spend it.
I often wonder if my oldest son, at 3, has any understanding of the concept of money.
We've recently introduced Pocket Money Day to him in an effort to start teaching him about it - we tell him how much he has to spend (£5) and give him his coins, encouraging him to pay for the item himself and discussing the change he receives with him to help him start to recognize different coins and understand amounts.
But the concept of the value of money is still most certainly beyond him right now (Demonstrated by the fact that every week without fail he expects his £5 pocket money to secure him the biggest toy in the shop!).
Foresters Friendly Society, who have been helping with family finances since 1834 and take a sustainable approach to savings investments and insurance, have launched a competition this Summer taking a fun look at just how much children understand money by asking them to share their ideas of what they would do with a one off lump sum.
Out of interest I asked my little one to draw me a picture of how he'd spend £5,000 if he had it - now he is only 3 so his drawing skills aren't quite Picasso standard just yet, but allow me to decipher them for you.
This, according to my son, is a picture of a racing car - but not just ANY racing car, this is a very specific green racing car with an exposed engine (he was very specific about the exposed engine...I have no idea where this has come from!)
This is apparently what he would like to buy with £5,000 - at first I thought he meant a toy racing car but upon further questioning I discovered that no - it's a REAL racing car. Hmm!! Do I have the next Lewis Hamilton on my hands?! (If his co-ordination skills when riding his bike are anything to go by, then I sincerely hope not!)
If you'd like to find out how your children would spend £5,000 and take part in this competition all you have to do is ask them to draw a picture of what they'd buy and enter it!
The prize will be £200 of Love2shop vouchers and a National Trust annual family membership and will be awarded to the favourite entry by the team at Foresters.
Please include the first name and age of the child who’s drawn the entry as part of the image, and upload it below.
Don't forget to use the hashtag #LittleSpenders across social media - you can find Foresters here on twitter @ForestersFriend or here on Facebook.
The competition will close on 29th August.
Good Luck!
(Please note, this competition is not hosted or drawn by Sparkles & Stretchmarks).
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