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Father And His Kids Doing Grocery ShoppingMy wife went out of town with friends for the weekend so I have our 4 kids for the day. I took them to play at their favorite park. When lunch time came around they all wanted to eat at McDonalds.

Rather than eating at McDonalds I thought it would be fun to have a little budgeting lesson. I suggested we go to Wal-Mart instead and find lunch. I gave them a budget of $5 each, or $25 for all of us.

The kids decided they all wanted Lunchables. They were $3 each. I got a $5 meal of my own. The kids realized they had $8 left to spend. They picked out a $5 movie. Then they all wanted treats to watch the move they each picked out a treat that was between $1-$2. I then told them they were over budget and had to put something back. I gave them the choice of getting a cheaper lunch, no treats, or put the movie back. Ultimately they put the movie back and stuck with the Lunchables and treats.

I don’t know if they learned anything but I hope they learned a few things such as:

  1. How to keep a running total in their heads as they shop.
  2. Money is finite. They had to stay within their limit.
  3. They had sacrifice and make choices. Putting the movie back was definitely the hardest on my daughter.

We talked about other options on the way home. I told them it if it were me I would have chosen mac & cheese or ramen noodles and got a couple of DVDs. It got them thinking any way.

I’ll save the lesson on eating healthy for when Mom gets back in town! 😀