The Color of Money..........

One of the gifts my Father in law gave my 4 children was a clean crisp $50 dollar bill. My teenage boys really appreciated it, my 12 year old daughter also really enjoyed it, but it rocked my 6 year olds world. Now I'm not saying that she has never had any money, but its always been $5 or $10 dollars which is usually enough to buy someone else a present from Wal-Mart. $50 is a different story, not because she realized it was a lot more than she had ever had , but because after buying presents for her 5 family members she received money back. I believe that was the point her current concept of money was born.
Today, which is the oddest New Years Day yet( no college football bowls) and nothing really to do other than play games or talk which doesn't go to for all day, we decided to go to the movie store and get a couple of movies. Both girls decided to pay for a movie of their choice as their older brothers were going with friends to The Chronicles of Narnia again. My 6 year old received the membership card from her Mom as she clutched her piggy bank packed full of her money. I've never been one for paying a lot of attention to things as my wife will attest to, but I did arrive at the movie store with both girls in tow. When we arrived at the store my 6 year old bee lined for the movie she had been hoping for Scooby Doo Where's My Mummy and was ready to check out. I asked her where her money was and she said held up the membership card happily and shook it with a smile saying I've got the card. I explained to her that it wasn't a credit card and she would need some money ( i forgot to make sure she had it!!). I didn't bring any as I rarely carry any anyway and suggested that we have her older sister( who was now ready to check out) pay for it. This brought out the problem of paying her sister back and she freaked out. "Take me home and get my money" she demanded. I told her that her sister would pay for it and that's that. She was upset and upon arriving home she went and told her Mom that she wasn't going to pay her sister anything for the movie she wanted. "Why? What is the difference?" her Mom asked her and she explained that her sister wouldn't give her money back as the person at movie store would. She went on to explain that when you buy things you get more money back and you can always go shopping to get more money or go to the bank and get some there. Fancy that, I've had it all wrong all these years. God provides for us at any age but reasoning money isn't part of that provision. Most people never realize an ability to account for money but having a child's perception can gain more reward than most adults will ever realize.