how much does your 5 yo understand about

[Momma Aimee]

Money.

My DS1 is 4 months past 5; and is for the first time earning money (1/2 save and 1/2 to spend).

Also we;'ve been sorting coins and so on

He is pretty clueless.  But that is Momma, i just never talk about it with him --

wondering where his peers stand

[Daffodil]

My DS is just about the same age.  He gets an allowance and understands the basic idea of money.  He knows if something costs $5, he can't buy it if he only has $3.  But he wouldn't know how to count his money to find out how much he had.  I wasn't sure how much he knew about coins, so I just tried asking him some questions to see.  He was able to tell me the names of a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.  (I was kind of surprised he knew that.)  He also knew which of those was worth the most and the least.  He knew that a penny was worth one cent, but didn't know how much any of the others were worth.  Once I reminded him how much each coin was worth, he could figure out how many cents he had if I gave him a nickel and a penny, or a dime and a penny, or a quarter and two pennies.  I'm sure he has no idea how many cents are in a dollar, and might not even know that a dollar is worth more than a cent.

[etsdtm99]

my DD just turned 5, we talk with her about money every time we go out and we have since she was probably 2 ..  she can count paper money and usually does pretty good counting 1-2$ worth of coins but if you go over that she doesn't really get to put them in piles and then add them up .. but i haven't really pushed it this is what she pushes on me because she is really interested in math/money .. when i tell her something at the store costs 10$ and its too expensive, she says "if you use my money it will only cost you X" .. really, this is probably a sign that she has spent too much of her life shopping with mommy & grandma..

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by etsdtm99 

my DD just turned 5, we talk with her about money every time we go out and we have since she was probably 2 ..  she can count paper money and usually does pretty good counting 1-2$ worth of coins but if you go over that she doesn't really get to put them in piles and then add them up .. but i haven't really pushed it this is what she pushes on me because she is really interested in math/money .. when i tell her something at the store costs 10$ and its too expensive, she says "if you use my money it will only cost you X" .. really, this is probably a sign that she has spent too much of her life shopping with mommy & grandma..

LOL

sorry i had to laugh.  :) 

ok i am feeling pretty ok -- about his standing.

i think it is time to jump into it -- but at least he is not tooo far bahind
 

[frugalmama]

'
 

Originally Posted by etsdtm99 

my DD just turned 5, we talk with her about money every time we go out and we have since she was probably 2 ..  she can count paper money and usually does pretty good counting 1-2$ worth of coins but if you go over that she doesn't really get to put them in piles and then add them up .. but i haven't really pushed it this is what she pushes on me because she is really interested in math/money .. when i tell her something at the store costs 10$ and its too expensive, she says "if you use my money it will only cost you X" .. really, this is probably a sign that she has spent too much of her life shopping with mommy & grandma..

Had to laugh too - mine daughter is 4 and a half, and doesn't understand money at all. But she understands free and coupons since that's how I shop! She asks me when I come home sometimes "Mama what did you get free today for me?"
 

[Greenmama2]

DD can't really count money under $1 (we have coins for $1 & $2) since she knows fractions only as 1/2, 1/4 etc and the concept that 100 cents is the same as $1 seems too abstract for her but she's pretty competent with dollar amounts. The real problem we have is choosing to to understand that we don't have infinite amounts
(she understood this when was two and three and even up to 4.5, she's just recently decided that surely we can just go to the bank and get more out )

[cappuccinosmom]

My middle son is 5 (almost 6 though) and we just hit the money section of his first grade math book.  He's having no trouble with it.  He picked up easily on counting by 5's and 10's when he was four, so attaching nickels and dimes to those numbers went very smoothly.  Also, he looooves money and is always collecting coins to add up (so he can one day buy General Tso's chicken, lol), so he's interested.

My older son had much more trouble with it, and still will hesitate with counting money--he's in 3rd grade. 

So....like many things, I think it depends a lot on the child.

[Lisa1970]

Most 5 yr olds do not know about money. I do not think they even work on money at all in kindergarten in the public schools.

I had to edit this. My wording was awful! I mean, most 5 yr olds do not know about money. 

Edited by Lisa1970 - 3/23/11 at 8:09pm

[heatherdeg]

We started an allowance with ds7 when he was 5.  I had read "Raising Financial Fit Kids" which was wonderful.  He gets his allowance ($1 for every year of his age) to learn how to manage money.  He can do "extra" things to earn a quarter (up to 6 of these/day--which in a year, he has seriously done ONE and earned one quarter :/), and the he has chores he has to do for no reward because it's just expected of him as part of a family (and if he doesn't, he is not punished monetarily).

We use the KidsWealth kit which has 5 envelopes:  Wealth (savings), Plan (large purchases--$20 and over in our house), Learn (for education--right now, for books & museum souvenirs), Fun, and Angel (charity).  So at 5, he fully understood the role of each account and could give you examples.  He was able to count his money (although not coins--I seriously think we only truly conquered coins in the last 6mo & he turned 7 in Jan), and he knew that if something cost $x.99 that he needed to round up to the next dollar to really understand what it would cost.  He conceptually understood what tax was (he knew it was extra money we paid and where that money went--and we've expanded on that since to include where income taxes go, property taxes, etc.).  And at 5, he quickly learned that Mommy was no longer buying him the stuff he wanted.  :)

I agree with Lisa1970 that most 5yos don't know much (if anything at all) about money.  But I don't think that's a particularly good thing.  Most states are scrambling to introduce financial education standards--and in NJ, the standards start at pre-K although I have yet to see it truly implemented.  The general lack of understanding money and finances is a significant problem in this country.  :(