Hello, my fellow Naijans!!!
This is another amazing week to engage and share ideas. I love this week's prompts and I decided to have an entry or two.
The Prompt:
At a certain age, every human will be exposed to money since it is part of our everyday lives; exposure in the sense that we will understand its value and how well to manage it. What do you think is the right age for children to be exposed to money?
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I would love to approach this prompt from my personal experiences before I then conclude the right age. I feel children should be exposed to money at different ages because different individuals mature at different times. Understanding the value of money and how to manage it is an attribute of a financially mature person. This is what I'm simply saying, my elder brother learned selling and buying and he excelled. At age fourteen he was already a half-millionaire. He knew how to manage his business and money appropriately this simply means he was not a newbie in the business, he was financially mature. Then, while I was still passing through my secondary educational training, I was already exposed to money and I honestly didn't know how to properly manage it. I was very extravagant because I didn't work for the money. I was seventeen when I graduated from high school meaning that my brother and I were exposed to money at different ages.
Flying back in time, I can remember when I was probably eight, I used to love this milk drink called "Bobo". That time I used to wish I was as rich as my parents or friends' parents, I would have purchased as many bottles of "Bobo" as I wanted. That was the age when I didn't understand how difficult it was to earn money, especially in my country with a poor economy.
Even when I was in primary school, I used to develop this feeling of buying every enticing thing I came across. Periods like Christmas time used to be "mad" for us then, because I would want to buy every type of dress, fireworks and lots more.
But now things have turned in a very opposite form. After I finished my secondary education, I noticed a bit of change in my parents' and guardians' behavior toward me in terms of financial matters. It now seems they expect me to solve some of my minor needs like purchasing body care items(soaps, cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, and lots more). Now I can have my hair fully grown and no one cares to ask me about getting it shaved or frictioned.
When there was a shift in certain responsibilities, I began to learn financial conservation skills without being taught, hehe. Those things I often see without having to buy them suddenly became my worst items. I was just exposed to some sites where one could be paid for doing tasks by my friends but the pay wasn't encouraging. Before one could make a meaningful amount of money, one must have done millions of tasks. I learned that making money isn't a child's joke and began to manage the way I spent money.
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In a nutshell, I would love to answer the question in the prompt though it's already made clear in the preceding paragraphs.
I would love to say there is no set age for any child to be exposed to money because every individual differs in size and maturity. The age a child should be exposed to money in the sense that the child would understand the value of the money and know how to effectively spend it is the age he starts working for the money or has little of the money.
There is a proverb in my language that says, "A bird won't know the importance of its wings until they turn to hands". A child wouldn't know the value of money until he has experienced how the money is made. So what I mean is that a child could be exposed to money at any age.
The condition of the child also matters. A child who has everything provided for him definitely won't have to be exposed to money at any age because even from the womb, financial matters are already settled. Then imagine a boy whose parents suffer to provide food for the family, he won't even have an opportunity to be exposed to money to think of managing or spending it. Even if the child grows up to the age he can work, if he is a wise child who's financially mature, he would only think of ways to help his family.
No one is ever one hundred percent accurate or perfect, so I may not be right in what I have just said, therefore I would highly welcome comments.
This is my view on the prompt of the week.
Thanks for reading.
The images are rightly sourced.
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