10 Tips for Raising Smart Shoppers
If you’ve ever shopped with a child you have probably heard the pleas for the toy at the end of the aisle, the snack strategically placed in the check-out lane, or the cereal with the dancing bears on the box your daughter just has to have (who cares what’s inside when the box is so cool?). Shopping is a life skill that your child will eventually need to learn, and they get their cues from us during those early years when we constantly say, “no” while we hurl the cart through the store in efforts to escape without going bankrupt.
Raising smart shoppers starts early and is about more than just the grocery bill. Everything from food, to household items, to homes, and cars are all items your child will most likely consider purchasing at some point. Especially if he likes to eat. Start early and be smart about the shopping lessons you teach your child.
- Take your child shopping. Often. I am always intrigued when I meet parents who practically refuse to take their children with them into the store, usually because they don’t want to hear the whines for treats or they want to zip through without stopping to gape at everything. Firsthand knowledge and experience is one of the strongest ways we have to teach our children, on any subject. When they shop with us they get a front row seat to the options on the shelves, the choices we make, and the experience of being a customer.
- Shop together and engage your child in the shopping experience. Even young toddlers are aware of their surroundings enough to help you look for specific items on your list. I usually find that including my kids on my mission not only keeps them occupied, but the tasks I give them while shopping help them to become better shoppers. Even if the most we do is talk about the store decorations, communicating while we are shopping is important. Wandering the aisles is also a great time to point out marketing strategies, like putting everything fun, cool, and awesome right at the eye level of kids.
- Make a list for you, and one for your child. I will usually take one large list for me, and then assign each child a few items from the list. Perhaps it will be their favorite foods or ingredients for their sleepover snacks. When we make shopping lists we can focus our attention on the items we need and our kids learn how to prepare before ever going into the store.
- Compare prices and have your kids help you do the math. My kids find it a game to see which item is the better priced item, maybe getting more ounces for less money. They have also learned to check brand names and expiration dates, important factors in prices and whether or not the larger quantity will actually be a better deal. My 12 year old son loves to comparison shop between different brands to find the most economical choice, while still getting the quality we want or need.
- Teach them how to read labels. Show them how to find out how many servings are actually in the box, and whether or not it actually has the ingredients that you want and need. This goes for more than just groceries. When you take kids clothes shopping, have them read the labels and make sure they know how to care for the items and whether or not special soaps will be required (or Heaven forbid – dry cleaning!). When shopping for games or anything electrical, check to see if batteries are included, and how many will be needed. All of these extras factor into pricing.
- Take your child shopping with you for big ticket items. Tweens and teens might be the ones clamoring for the big screen TV, so bring them along to ask questions, determine quality and price ratios, and be witnesses to your informed decision. If you are in the market for a new vehicle, include them in the process so that they learn to understand how the process works and become better prepared for their own future purchases.
- Teach them how to be good customers. I have a hard fast rule with my kids that they need to be respectful of the store or business in which we are shopping, and excellent customers for the salespeople and employees at the checkout line. If my kids want to know where something is in a store or have a question on an item, I have them ask the clerk themselves, politely requesting the information they need and thanking them for the assistance.
- Give them a time-out rule for purchases. When my kids go shopping with me (which is usually every week), they know that spontaneous purchases can lead to lost cash. We encourage our kids to plan ahead for those fun purchases like collector cards or toys, and to think ahead of time about the purchase for at least 3 days. If they simply walk into a store planning to spend the $5 that has singed its way through their pockets, they will spend the $5, no matter what, often causing buyer’s remorse.
- Discuss manufacturing with your kids and how it affects your purchases. Kids are smart – readers can already tell you that most of their toys are probably made overseas. Talk with them about why this is so, including the costs of manufacturing in different countries and labor laws and regulations. Bring into the conversation why quality matters, especially for certain purchases, and how to discern whether or not an item is worth the price.
- Give them some money. OK – hopefully they can earn it somehow. It is really important that your child have even a minimal amount of cash with which to experiment – either saving, sharing, or spending – or hopefully a little of all three. Something magical happens when the money being spent is their own, and the lessons you have been teaching come full force to the check-out line. Suddenly they go from asking for everything to weighing their options carefully. And if your child is a spender, there is no faster lesson than to teach a child you can’t buy something when your pockets are empty.
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