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Alternate physical geographies
Jul. 27th, 2008 09:30 pmWriting about writing: I jinxed myself. Gah. Back to writing about my kids.
I checked out a book from the library called The First National Bank of Dad: The Best Way to Teach Kids About Money by David Owen. The New Yorker cartoon on the front caught my eye, and his writing style looked amusing; I thought he might have some interesting ideas, though he starts out talking about how to get your kid to save, and Molly is already an excellent saver.
He does, in fact, have some interesting ideas. He realized that his kids were reluctant to save in part because of the measly rates paid by passbook savings accounts -- they viewed savings accounts as a black hole into which generous checks instantly vanished forEVer. So he opened a "Bank of Dad," which paid a (much) more generous interest rate (sufficient to cause the child's investment to double in about a year) (and no, he does not take deposits from adults, or from any children who do not have half his DNA). Later, when his kids were older, he switched over to offering an Investment Firm in which all stocks cost exactly 1/100th of their real price. So if a stock is trading at $53.88 a share, his kids could buy one share for 54 cents.
Anyway, I left the book lying around, and Molly picked it up. "Why did Mom check this book out, anyway?" she asked Ed (indignantly). "I'm an excellent saver." Nonetheless, she left a bookmark in it, and picked it up again today. Oh, and she decided that she was going to start a First National Bank for Kiera. She made one out of a cereal box and informed us that she would put a nickle in it every month until Kiera started getting an allowance. (Which will happen in September; we made it a 5th birthday thing.)
*
As Molly was eating her snack tonight, she wanted to know why a person couldn't live without their head. I said that it's because we keep our brain in our head. Well, why couldn't someone live if they couldn't think? I explained that people don't think about breathing, but without their brain, they won't breathe. Why do our brains have to be in our head? was the next question. Why not in our leg? She started prodding at her thigh, mulling over a good place to keep a brain.
"Do you want to keep in your butt?" I said. "You'd squash it whenever you sat down!"
"No, no, not in my butt," she said, giggling. "In my -- hmm. Over here on the side."
I explained that we needed a skull (or some nice, hard, bony open space) to protect the brain so that we would suffer brain damage anytime some mean person did something like THIS. And swatted her on the head with some papers.
I think she went from there to "I wish I were a wizard." I think I mentioned that she read the Harry Potter books, but I'm not sure I've described on here just how totally obsessed she is.
I checked out a book from the library called The First National Bank of Dad: The Best Way to Teach Kids About Money by David Owen. The New Yorker cartoon on the front caught my eye, and his writing style looked amusing; I thought he might have some interesting ideas, though he starts out talking about how to get your kid to save, and Molly is already an excellent saver.
He does, in fact, have some interesting ideas. He realized that his kids were reluctant to save in part because of the measly rates paid by passbook savings accounts -- they viewed savings accounts as a black hole into which generous checks instantly vanished forEVer. So he opened a "Bank of Dad," which paid a (much) more generous interest rate (sufficient to cause the child's investment to double in about a year) (and no, he does not take deposits from adults, or from any children who do not have half his DNA). Later, when his kids were older, he switched over to offering an Investment Firm in which all stocks cost exactly 1/100th of their real price. So if a stock is trading at $53.88 a share, his kids could buy one share for 54 cents.
Anyway, I left the book lying around, and Molly picked it up. "Why did Mom check this book out, anyway?" she asked Ed (indignantly). "I'm an excellent saver." Nonetheless, she left a bookmark in it, and picked it up again today. Oh, and she decided that she was going to start a First National Bank for Kiera. She made one out of a cereal box and informed us that she would put a nickle in it every month until Kiera started getting an allowance. (Which will happen in September; we made it a 5th birthday thing.)
*
As Molly was eating her snack tonight, she wanted to know why a person couldn't live without their head. I said that it's because we keep our brain in our head. Well, why couldn't someone live if they couldn't think? I explained that people don't think about breathing, but without their brain, they won't breathe. Why do our brains have to be in our head? was the next question. Why not in our leg? She started prodding at her thigh, mulling over a good place to keep a brain.
"Do you want to keep in your butt?" I said. "You'd squash it whenever you sat down!"
"No, no, not in my butt," she said, giggling. "In my -- hmm. Over here on the side."
I explained that we needed a skull (or some nice, hard, bony open space) to protect the brain so that we would suffer brain damage anytime some mean person did something like THIS. And swatted her on the head with some papers.
I think she went from there to "I wish I were a wizard." I think I mentioned that she read the Harry Potter books, but I'm not sure I've described on here just how totally obsessed she is.
