The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1942-01-08
SAVING AND SPENDING
By LUCIA MALLORY

"Don't these dollars look big,
Mother?"
My niece, Alice Mallory, held up
two dollar bills for her mothers in
spection.
"They look very nice, Alice" my
sister-in-law replied. "1'm glad you
have an opportunity to earn some
money this summer"
"Fm taking care Of little Bobby
Stanton on Wednesdays and Satur-
days, Aunt Lucia" my niece ex-
planned. | had just arrived for visit
in my brothers home.
"Shall l get some new tennis balls,
or put all Of this weeks wages into
the bank?" Alice asked, turning to
her mother.
Haven't you been planning to buy
new tennis balls ever since Mrs. STAN
ton told you she wanted you to take
care of Bobby this SUMNER" her
mother asked.
"Yes," Alice replied, 'T just Won
dered if l ought to spend that much
money on myself. Maybe l ought to
save all of it."
"You can buy three tennis balls
with half of your money!" her mother
counselled, "and then you can put the
other half into your savings account.
That would be fair division"
"All right, Mother" Alice's eyes
were shining. "I'll go downtown right
now and get my tennis balls and put
one dollar into the bank! If Kenneth
has time this evening, we can play
set before dark"
"You've made a good point there,
Harriet" I said to my sisterin-law
after Alice had gone. 81 believe every
child should handle his own money
and learn both how to spend and how
to save it,"
"I want Alice to have a sense Of
achievement that will make her work
worth while. Nothing will give her
that more than purchasing a few de-
sirable things for herself with money
that she has earned by her own eff
forts. Placing a part of each weeks
wages in her savings account will
keep her from spending too freely. A
savings account is not very tangible
thing to a fifteen-year old, yet both
Alice and Kenneth have become great
ly interested in building funds to help
themselves through college"
"Do you know, Harriet" l said,
smiling at my sister-in-law, ''that |
think my niece and nephew have very
wise parents :"
"You'd better say that those parents
profit by their own Mistakes" Har-
riet replied "We did not know so
much about the need for teaching
children how to handle money when
Kenneth started his paper route.
"At first he was a proud young
business man, handing each weeks
earnings over to his daddy to be
placed in the bank.
at wasn't long, however, before the
boys interest began to lag. He made
no effort to extend his route or to in
crease his earnings. We soon realized
that our son wasn't getting much
satisfaction from his work.
"Ned decided to try letting Kenneth
take his own money to the bank. That
made his earnings seem more real to
him, but it wasn't until he had made
few purchases with his own money
that his interest was really aroused.
"kenneth wanted some attachments
for his bicycle and Ned suggested
that he buy them for himself. He be-
gan to make purchases for the rest
of the family, too, little things that
ne saw we needed, a tea strainer for
me, key ring for his daddy and
school notebook for Alice. Later on
he bought a good kodak for himself,
"Now Kenneth has built up fine
paper route and he has good income
for a boy of his age. | am sure"
Harriet concluded, "that nothing gives
a child such a sense Of independence
as having his own money and learning
how to spend and how to save it
wisely"