Money-learning, earning activities for your kids this summer
In Summer B.C. (Before Covid) years, this was the time when parents enrolled their kids in all sorts of classes – swimming, martial arts, art, dancing, writing, acting, etc. I remember the days when I joined the boys and also enrolled in some classes myself. I was their “classmate” in their kickboxing classes. I also enrolled in tap dance while they had their own dance classes. It’s a fun way to open doors and engage in new adventures and I would always suggest something non-academic for summer classes, unless your kids are really bugging you to enroll them in that advanced Math class.
With the quarantine still on, I wonder what classes are still available for kids now? I know Teacher Michelle, a dear friend of my sons, still teaches jazz and street dance classes to kids seven to 13 years old. You may check her out. But I guess things will go back to these social encounters only in Summer A.V. (After Vaccine). 
Learn and earn about money this summer
As we celebrate one year in quarantine, I’m sure your kids, no matter how young they are, are now fully aware of the virus and the havoc it has brought to all of us. I hope you have taken this opportunity to teach them about the importance of emergency fund, the need to be frugal, the difference between needs and wants, and the basic laws of money.
It may be a good idea to challenge your kids to have an earning activity this summer and every summer thereafter. This is an important component of raising kids with high FQ.
Start with your kids’ gifts. What are they good at? Can they earn something from their skills? This helps them observe the second basic law of money in their early years. The second basic law of money is to get only into a business that you understand and seek advice only from competent people.
Many summers ago, I challenged my then young sons to come up with their own dance camp as their money-learning/earning activity. It was a big project for them as they came up with their curriculum, marketing materials, identified and communicated their USP (unique selling proposition) because a major dance school was in our neighborhood. They distributed their flyers, called potential students and titos and titas whose children were potential students, gave sample dance numbers in our parish and in our homeowners’ association gatherings, structured their pricing, finalized their schedules to avoid conflict with their other summer vacation activities, and all the other details. They were able to come up with a dozen of students.
To conclude their summer dance camp, they had a Recital Dance Concert with ticket sales. So again, this involved designing and selling of tickets, photo shoot and video making, inviting other guest performers and co-hosts and the whole production process for their event! They also had to pray hard for a good weather because the venue was outdoor.
It was a great experience for my sons. My husband and I had a preview of how the three of them would be in the real business world. We saw them brain-storm, argue, settle among themselves how to divide responsibilities and profits, and it was both challenging and exciting.
Other ideas
Other earning activities my sons did while they were still studying were the following: taught guitar lessons, art exhibits, worked as part of restaurant crew, made videos, hosted, etc.
I actually liked the idea of working as a waiter during summer. Our oldest son joined the Teriyaki Boy crew while he was in high school. After this experience, he developed a deeper sense of appreciation for service providers. Up to this day, he reminds me not to follow up on orders too soon as he himself experienced how it was to be on the other side of the fence.
Maybe DepEd should consider making waiting or similar service-provider jobs as part of summer curriculum? Wouldn’t it be good for our children’s character formation if all of them go through this before they graduate? Another good work experience that our students can benefit from is to be tour guides or even just interns of good tour guides when we reach Summer A.V. I think studying our historical spots and the stories behind them will make them appreciate history and our culture more. Every election, and hey, next year is another election year, we have seen how we fail to remember and learn from history. Maybe this practical way of studying history may help.
When is summer going to start?
The thing is, we don’t know when summer is going to start as we had a late start of school year due to the pandemic. But the good thing is, because of the flexibility in the study schedules of our children, it may also be a great opportunity to include these money-learning/earning activities in their schedules. In fact, they can even enhance their lessons by doing this.
Let’s continue the conversation in Kumu on Thursday
I’d love to hear how you plan to incorporate money-learning/earning activities in your children’s schedule. Maybe you can also share with us your own. Come and join us for our second episode of Money Lessons with FQ Mom and Sons on SeenZone under Knowledge Channel.
Cheers to raising our children with high FQ!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Please join us every Thursday at 11 am live on Kumu for an hour of “Money Lessons with FQ Mom and Sons.” You can come 15 minutes early for an online exercise. See you tomorrow!
2. FQ Book 2 Launch soon and you’re all invited! SAVE THE DATE: March 19, 2021 at 3 to 4 in the afternoon live on FB!
3. To get your copy of FQ Book 2 click: https://fqmom.com/bookstore/
To know more about FQ Book 2, watch this short video.
4. How good are you with money? Do you want to know your FQ score? Take the FQ test and map out your 2021 FQ plan. Scan the QR code or click the link http://fqmom.com/dev-fqtest/app/#/questionnaire.
