Milford chronicle., 1925-01-30
YOUR CHILD'S IDEA OF THRIFT
Edith Lochridge Reid

When you give your child MS
school allowance on Monday morn
ing does he have an idea where it
came from? When you take your
daughter down town and buy her a
new coat, does she think that the
Charge it, please" settles the ac-
count?
Just recently Richard wanted to
buy a secondhand bicycle which a
chum had to sell, but his father told
him he didn't have the money to
spare. well, give me a check" said
Richard, and when Daddy explained
that there wasn't any more money in
the bank, Richard insisted, 'Why
there is, too, saw my teacher come
out of there this noon with some
dollars they had given her"
Now Richard doesn't belong to an
illiterate family, nor to a poverty
stricken one, either. His father
makes a deposit in the savings bank
each time he receives his salary
check, although he may run low On
his checking account the last Of the
month. But Richard, although past
nine years old, still thinks that
banks exist in the community to
pass out money per order by check.
Teaching thrift is not only pa
rental duty but it is a civic obliga-
tion which the family owes TO the
community. To be sure, it takes
more time and patience to divide up
the savings account into respective
accounts for each member of the
family, but any moral training takes
effort. Why not give five-year-old
son his ten or twenty cents a week
and then take him down to the bank
and show him where to put half of
1t or fourth for safe keeping? If he
spends the remainder for candy on
the way home, let him learn the
consequences Of such procedure by
going without luxuries of that sort
the rest of the week.
Good habits are so much easier
taught when the child is still in the
home or at least in his very early
school years, because then he has
fewer distractions and temptations,
and his mind is most impressionable
If we can succeed in getting the
child to follow a safe and. sane
schedule while directly under home
influence, there is a pretty good
chance of his keeping to it.
The mother who hands out to her
children pennies and nickles with
out restriction during their baby
hood, will find them demanding dol
lars in later years with no appreci-
alton whatever and with no idea of
their value except as they translate
it into terms of ice cream soda and
'sII!IJ
Thrift involves more than the
mere putting of money into the bank
from a stated allowance. It is moral
training in self-denial, promptness,
reasoning, and a right attitude to-
ward the family finances and home
comforts.
Children taught to save intelli-
gently make better men and women;
they are usually successful in busi-
ness and are self-reliant and con-
tented.
Take your boy to the savings bank
next week when he gets his allow
ance, get him a deposit book like
"big folks" and watch his eyes
shine.
Recently our Elinor opened a saw
ings account and a few days after
wards when a new little neighbor
came over to get acquainted, Elinor
said, Don't you want to trade at my
bank?"
So the thrift habit and it's influ-
ence may easily spread. The time
spent in teaching the child to save
is a good investment and will al
ways bring its own reward.
BE sure to read the next article
in this series: Teaching Children to
Spend Money Wisely."]
Miss May 2. Francis, Superintend-
ent of Public instruction of the
State of Iowa, says, "The Kindergar-
ten in Iowa, as in other states in the |
United States, is concerned with the |
development of the child and it's OBJ
ject is to teach the child to live it's
life to the full in the earlier stages
Of development which are important
years in a child's life."
Has your town or city provided
kindergaFtens for all of it's little
children? The National kindergarten
Association, 8 West 10th Street, New
York, is always glad to assist any
one who desires to work for their
establishment.
80 Il
CHILDREN TO SPEND 1
MONTY TMTCET " II