All the questions within the Adolescence category for Jewish & Christian Heritage.
All the questions within the Adolescence category for UU Identity.
All the questions within the Adolescence category for World Religions.
Children Saving Money
In Newale S. Godfreys book, Money Doesnt Grow on Trees: A Parents Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children (Fireside Books, 1994), the author makes the following points:
Saving money is essentially a discipline that youngsters must be taught just like brushing their teeth or doing their homework. She offers a three-step process for teaching children how to save money.
We save money for three reasons: first, for protection in case of an emergency; second, for retirement; and third, to buy something we really want. For younger children, she suggests that you approach with the third reason(to save for something they really want to buy.
The principles for inspiring anyone to save money are the same for youngsters age six to sixteen:
1. Provide your children with the tools to save. They must have a source of money of their own to save.
2. Provide the proper environment where the children can safely keep the money saved. This can be a piggy bank or toy safe.
Monitor the activity and provide encouragement. Set attainable goals and then reward your children with praise for successfully saving the money.
Allowances: When and How Much
To learn about money management, youngsters must have real money on their own to manage. Rather than handing youngsters a sizable sum of money, or doling it out a dollar at a time, a weekly allowance gives children a source of income that they can learn to make decisions about.
It has been debated whether this weekly money should be tied to chores. Yes, yes, yes! In addition to using an allowance to teach money management, this weekly sum will also show your children the relationship between work (chores) and money (allowance), clearly an important concept. Not only will the children someday work for money, but earning an allowance will underscore the fact that you, the parent, work hard for your money, too.
Once youve decided that an allowance is a useful teaching tool and that your children are ready to begin earning and learning, then you need to formulate a starting salary. For my own two children, I started them on an allowance when they were 3 and 6 years old. I used an easy rule of thumb: their allowance was the same number of dollars as their age. Ive continued to use this rule as theyve grown.
Many peoples first reaction is that three dollars is a lot of money for a three-year-old. Let me explain what you and your youngsters will be doing with this money. There are three basic areas of money management we will be working on. I call it my S. O. S. system. Briefly, they are:
1. Savings. Some portion of the allowance needs to be allotted for both short-term savings, like for a special toy or outing, and long-term savings, such as for a bicycle or college fund.
2. Offerings. This is a small amount of money set aside for donation to charity or to the less fortunate. However small the sum, it is a valuable way for a parent to teach personal values through money by showing the children how to share their good fortune.
3. Spending. Depending on the budget you develop with your children, part of their spending money may go to cover specific expenses. It can range from lunch money or bus fare for young ones, to total management of a years clothing budget for more sophisticated teenagers. At any age, however, there needs to be some money that is the childrens discretionary fund to spend as they wish (with whatever limitations you setfor example, no drugs).
I believe in assigning specific chores that each child does weekly to earn the allowance. In my household, we have two kinds of chores: personal maintenance (like keeping ones bedroom free from fire hazards) and general household chores (such as setting the table or dusting the living room furniture). Payment of the allowance is based on the latter. Each child has specific chores that must be completed each week before the allowance is paid . . .
Here is where children should be in terms of financial independence at different ages:
Ages 39: Allowance
Ages 1015: Allowance supplemented by outside jobs (baby-sitting, yard work, etc.).
Ages 16 and up: Teenagers outside jobs cover expenses like dating and gas. All basic necessities are funded by parents in an account the teenagers control.
Additionally, a parent should have certain odd jobs available to the youngster who wants to supplement their allowance the same way some employers offer overtime pay. Make a list of the not-urgent jobs you need done with the overtime fee you would pay, and post it on the refrigerator. Then, when your offspring asks for a second pair of designer sneakers or money to go ice skating with friends, refer to the list.
Source: Parenting for Peace and Justice Newsletter, Issue Number 65, December 1994
After the list of our Unitarian Universalist principles, which include the principle of a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and after the listing of the five sources from which we draw, which include direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder, words and deeds of prophetic women and men, wisdom from the world’s religions, Jewish and Christian teachings and humanist teachings, there is a statement which reads:
Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision.
This statement points to one of the great truths of Unitarian Universalism: we are united and brought closer to understanding ultimate things by our belief in the value of different viewpoints. This is not just a passive kind of tolerance but rather a positive awareness that we need to hear different ideas in order to gain the broadest vision of life and its mysteries.
Unitarian Universalists hold a wide variety of views about the word "God." What some people mean by God are views which are close to the traditional Jewish or Christian beliefs; what others mean are more like the views in Eastern religions. What some mean by the word "God" are images from Goddess religion or Native American religion, others mean images from science. Other UUs don’t find the word "God" useful at all, either because it strongly signifies meanings which are no longer believed or because other words seem more relevant in explaining one’s answers to ultimate questions, words like Life, Universe, Creation, Love, Being.
The statements in the story for this session are created out of the ideas of numerous UU adults who have come to workshops or courses in connection with God Images, the curriculum for fifth and sixth graders. They are composite statements based on ideas heard over and over. Members of these groups have been asked to draw a picture of their idea of what "God" means and then to speak to the group later about the picture.
The four types of ideas represented in the story seem to be the most common. One type of picture shows natural objects: stars, sun and moon; trees, flowers, mountains and water and much use of the color green. The people who draw these say they feel close to God when they are out in natural settings. The second type of picture is usually more abstract and has a center out of which all sorts of things radiate. This type usually makes use of reds, oranges and yellows and people relate it to the Big Bang and energy and power. The third type has a person or people in it who often are holding hands.
Sometimes they have a red heart, on which is written "God." The people who draw these speak of connectedness and caring. The fourth type is more mystical and in some way combines images from the first three. There are, of course, other types of wonderfully creative drawings depicting the variety of UUs’ views about God. Children love to hear adults tell them about their beliefs on the kind of profound issues which are God questions. Encourage them to talk with their parents or other adults about their ideas about God.
Goal:
To explore the concept that there is potential for both good and bad in people.
To introduce the symbol of Yin and Yang
Activities:
1. Read the story The Half-Boy of Borneo.
2. Discuss:
3. Yin Yang Symbol with Drawing instructions
The Chinese have a symbol for this same idea which you probably knowthe yin-yang symbol. It expresses the idea that opposites in the universe (day/night, light/dark, hot/cold, good/bad, etc) are forever struggling with each other, and wholeness is found when these opposites come together as one. Its interesting to think aboutcould there be day without night? light without dark? hot without cold? good without bad?
Yin is the Chinese word to describe one of the two opposite forces. Some of the words to describe Yin are: cool, night, at rest, female, dying. Yang is the Chinese word to describe the energy force which is opposite Yin. Some words to describe Yang are: warm, day, male, active, being born. Taoists call the whole circle around Yin and Yang the Toa (pronounced Dow) meaning the way, or the way of nature. The two forces go together, they are both good, both necessary, both equally important in making up the balanced whole.
Borrow the following Dr. Seuss books from your local library. Discuss UU values and principles as they appear in the stories.
Horton Hears a Who
Lesson/UU value: Every person counts, every person has the same rights. Cooperation gets things done.
Questions for discussion:
Did you ever have someone give you a hard time because you were smaller than that person?
Did you ever have to help someone who is smaller than you?
Have you ever accomplished something big because you cooperated with someone else?
The Sneetches
Lesson/UU value: Everyone is valuable; our differences are valuable. Be yourself. Dont try to change to copy othersit wont work.
Questions for discussion:
What made Star-Belly Sneetches better than Plain-Belly Sneetches? (Only their belief that it was so.)
Imagine a situation in which people think peole with curly hari are better than those with straight hair. How would you feel if you had straight hair? Would you really be different if you got a perm?
Is trying to look like other peole a good way to get along with them and make them like you?
What is a good way to be a friend? What do you like about your friends?
The Lorax
Lesson/UU value: We are all responsible for caring for the environment. We are part of an interdependent web of all existence.
Questions for discussion:
Why did the Lorax leave a pile of rocks with the world Unless? What can be done? What do you do to help take care of the world we live in?
Can you give $5 or more to sustain the ministries of the Church of the Larger Fellowship?
If preferred, you can text amount to give to 84-321
Quest for Meaning is a program of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, the CLF creates global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act.