There’s nothing quite like a trip to the seaside with the kids to remind yourself how little money you have – and how little children understand the value of it.
Last weekend I took my two girls, aged four and nine, to Hayling Island on the south coast to meet my friend, his wife, their new baby and cockapoo for the first time.
We popped into a lovely little pub overlooking the harbour for a drink and had been there approximately eight seconds when it started.
“Dad, we’re hungry.”
Being Mother’s Day weekend and not thinking about booking a table, we only had 45 minutes until the next party arrived and we had to vacate.
Ah, chips, I thought. Quick and easy. You can’t go wrong with chips.
Turns out you can. Three portions of them – one with cheese on top for good measure – cost me £17.
Seventeen quid? For three portions of chips?! Add to that £13 for drinks and I’d spent £30 without blinking.
Afterwards, we took a drive to the seafront – and of course, it started again.
“Dad, can we have an ice cream?’ “Dad, can we have money for the arcades?” “Dad, can we have a snack?”
HOW CAN YOU STILL BE HUNGRY? Don’t you know I’ve just spent half my salary on chips?! (Just for the record, I should probably clarify I’m joking here. Money Marketing of course pay me more than £34 a month.)
You could argue that I should have given them a more substantial meal than chips for lunch – and of course you’d be right.
You could also argue that I’m a miserable old fart – and again you’d probably be right.
I love days out with the kids and making memories. Seeing them smiling and their little faces lighting up.
But, like so many people, I don’t have an endless supply of money at the moment and, as a result, I sometimes feel myself going all Victor Meldrew about spending it.
So, after a couple of ice creams and splashing out £300 in the arcades to get enough tickets for a 10p bag of Haribo (again, slight exaggeration but you get the idea), I found myself muttering those words under my breath.
You know, the ones almost every one of us have heard from our parents at some point, and the ones we always swore we’d never say ourselves: “Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.”
I thought I’d said it quietly enough, but clearly not, as my four-year-old – with her eyes full of innocence and intrigue – simply responded: “Why not, Daddy?”
Bowled over by the cuteness of her question and the guilt of being such a grumpy old bugger, I had to give myself a reality check. Of course she doesn’t know the value of money at that age, you buffoon.
But it did make me think back to the debate about what point we should educate kids about money.
Last November, MPs launched a new inquiry into how financial education can be strengthened throughout primary, secondary and further education.
As part of the inquiry, the cross-party education committee will consider whether it should be introduced as part of the primary school curriculum.
While it has been part of the national curriculum for local authority-run secondary schools since 2014, academies and free schools can opt out of teaching it.
The committee said it will “explore reasons why the subject is often overlooked and how well schools and teachers are supported to deliver it”.
Some of the questions that will be asked during the inquiry include: What should we be teaching young people about money? What should financial education include? And are there any aspects missing from the current provision?
MPs will also consider whether financial education should form part of a core subject, what steps should be taken to support teachers and schools to deliver it, and whether financial education in schools should be extended beyond key stages three and four.
Education committee chair Robin Walker MP said: “With families and young people continuing to feel cost-of-living pressures, the case for equipping children of all backgrounds with the life skills and knowledge to help manage their money feels as strong and timely as ever.”
Meanwhile, The Centre for Social Justice has called for an “urgent rethink” of the way financial education is approached.
The think thank carried out research last year that found two-thirds of young adults who experienced financial difficulties believe better financial education could have helped them.
Katja Oakley-Bell, personal finance expert at Quilter, said: “It’s well known that learning gets harder as we get older and with this in mind, we need to teach important life skills to children at an early age, and that includes money skills.
She went on to say: “Teaching financial education in primary school might seem a little extreme, but research has shown that children as young as age seven to eleven can learn good money behaviours and gain skills such as budgeting and deferred gratification.”
So, there you have it. Next time my little lady asks me why money doesn’t grow on trees, I can simply say: “Just wait until the cross-party education committee delivers the results of its inquiry, sweetheart, then perhaps in two years’ time your teachers will be able to tell you all about it.”
