Children and Math Skills

When my Mom came to visit she and Jason went shopping. On their return we were in the kitchen and Jason was in his room playing. She told me how while at the grocery store Jason had berated her on her grocery selections. He was upset that she wasn't paying attention to the unit price of the items she was purchasing and told her under no uncertain terms that she could be saving a lot of money if she would pay attention to these unit price tags. She did that day and did save money, quite a bit. A few months later while talking on the phone she mentioned that day and how she'd been paying attention ever since and had saved quite a bit of money that she uses in other ways now. For his effort she sent Jason a book about savings and finance for the teenager! The first thing he did was to check the book's price!

The grocery store and mall remain some of the best places to allow your children to sharpen their math skills. There're are several ways for you to enhance these skills using a variety of concepts like budgets, savings, comparisons (tracking prices), quantity and differences in volume pricing. All of these require that you also have the skills needed to pass onto your children. Everything that they learn with these trips will enhance their own lives at a not so distant future. Learning how to use math is a lifelong present, learning how to shop, make comparisons and shop smart, skills that will stay with them throughout their own lives!

Useful math skills entail topics such as budgeting, savings, comparisons, volume, tracking prices over time (statistics) and unit pricing. All involve basic math skills that you can teach your child for their lifetime.

Budgeting: If you know your budget and know it well, let your child take charge of the shopping for a trip (with your supervision). Challenge them to purchase everything on your list and stay within the amount budgeted for the family. If they can do so then the reward would be something special for himself or herself or the family. You can teach your child about unit pricing, shopping smart, working with a fixed income and keeping track of their money.

Comparisons, Tracking Prices: Let your child keep track of the prices for a couple of specific items for a specified period of time. Have them make notes of the prices fluctuations during that time and see if there's a specific time when it quantity buying would be a good bet, saving money at the same time. Do the items go on special or sale at certain times during the tracking period? Do the prices for these items change from the beginning to the middle of the month?

Volume: Huge differences in pricing can be found if you family buys items in bulk or in larger quantity packaging. It is also the ratio gained by a packages length x width x height. A box of cereal may be smaller in overall volume packaging but contain more of the product. Cereal is a good example of this. Larger boxes of cereal that is not heavy may weigh substantial less than a smaller box of heavier cereal. Bulk flour, nuts, dry goods cost much less by volume packaging than that already packaged and cost much less. Have your children find these comparisons for you.

Saving Money: The Sunday paper always has one or more coupon pages. And although the purchase price can be dramatically discounted on a certain product it still may not make the purchase worthwhile. Have your child compare using the unit pricing method in addition to the coupon discount and the package volume that would be the best purchase! A brand of tissues (175 ct.) may cost $1.59 and have a coupon for fifty cents off and another brand (175 ct.) may cost $.89, which is the better bargain? Comparing, are the tissues both double-ply? If so and the count is the same is the volume of the boxes the same? Have your child find the answers to these and many more questions to decide which is the better purchase.

A wonderful habit that a parent can acquire is to keep a detailed list of everyday expenses. In doing so dramatic reductions in spending can be made. I found savings of over thirty to sixty dollars in a few simple reductions in my daily spending. That example comes from just two items, my morning coffee or tea and the purchase of an afte
oon drink. These two items cost an average of $2.00 per day. When you times it by the working days in any given month it is easy to see how these costs can add up. I've found it more cost effective to bring a hotcup with me on the way to work and carry a bookbag in which I place a few items that can be useful: A drink, some fruit and I have even started to carry a soup and some various snacks. It saves substantially on impulse buying products that already have a place in my kitchen. During these times of rising prices and consumer purchases it seems to make better sense to carry the items, pocket the savings for more useful, longterm endeavors! It is something that Jason learned from me and he and I will teach to his younger brother. A wonderful lesson in savings, tracking costs and being frugal (not cheap)!

These same examples can be used in various forms while shopping in any store. No matter what the purchase comparisons and pricing remain very important to make the proper buying decision. As your children grow older these same tactics and skills can be useful for everything from buying shoes to buying their homes. Our world is full of math problems just waiting to be solved. In these examples you're providing the skills necessary for your children to become smart shoppers and at the same time developing their life and math skills.

The unit price tag of any item gives an enormous amount of information. If you raise the curiosity of your children who knows, you may find yourself in a store at some time with your child telling you that "you could've saved money Mom!" nnnn