Financial education: $15 per hour for cleaning Christmas decorations
We are also strong in Los Angeles with our traditions. It's March 10th, and there's still a huge Christmas tree in the living room. True, it already looks like a herbarium with toys. You won’t surprise our Russian friends with a Christmas tree in March - everyone has their own records for tree growth, but the American ones have their eyebrows flying off their foreheads because they throw out their Christmas trees on December 25th. None of us have the motivation to discharge it. The thought of packing two thousand toys brings nothing but horror. The youngest daughter “showed up” and asked for $15 per hour at the minimum California rate. And that's only because her tiny business empire in the game Roblox was stolen by hackers. She invested in rare animals and resold them on Ebay for a profit. The child is very worried, and I had to look for connections on Roblox to get my account back.
In general, for us, children’s financial literacy is not an idle issue. In our environment there are children with a monthly budget from $100 to unlimited cards. We learn to maintain balance. The Trump family forbade their children from buying business class plane tickets; they mowed the lawn to save up for an upgrade. After a certain age, we transfer children from business to economy. They don’t like it, they always ask sarcastically: “Should I share my impressions of the economy with you?” We have our own financial education strategies. For example, we allocate small amounts monthly to children for all their expenses. They can dispose of them as they wish. The main condition: you cannot ask for anything from above. If you spent money before payday, your teeth are on the shelf. True, we always give options on how you can earn more money - this is either some kind of housework, or help in translating texts from English into Russian. It is important for us that children are not super materialistic and do not get confused if they suddenly find themselves penniless.
In the meantime, we continue to place bets on what date the child will empty the tree, whether we will be able to celebrate May Day under it and how much it will cost us.
Author: Yunia Pugacheva
