Playing Greengrocer

Since schools and daycare centers closed, I've noticed how much my children have grown. My eldest son has made it a daily habit to make fried eggs for the family for breakfast.

During the day, I stare at my eldest son at my desk.
I check his homework every day.
Multiplication is difficult to do reliably, so I use long division.
We rack our brains every day trying to figure out how to understand it.

It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to help my son learn about the basics of business while I was doing the accounting in front of him.
I decided to give him ¥800 per month as pocket money and to keep a financial ledger with him.
Then, I asked my son if we could try to make more money using this 800 yen. First, we played greengrocer.

"Buy the onions my grandpas grow and sell them to your mom."
My son doesn't understand what I mean though.

“If I buy an onion for ¥150 and sell it to my mother for ¥180, how much will I make?”
"¥30? What? I don't understand!"

I showed him how to fill out the cash ledger while looking at the cash, and lo and behold, the balance went from ¥800 to ¥830!
My son was surprised but also happy when he saw how much money he had.
Did you understand the meaning?
"I'll buy some bamboo shoots from grandma!"
I usually do calculations by hand, but at times like this I can do them in my head and it's really fast!

My grandpa was happy to receive the onion, and my mother was happy to be able to buy the onion. The son who acted as the middleman
He seems happy that the two of them were happy.
(Of course, I think the joy of having more money is huge.)
I wanted them to realize, even if only vaguely, that earning money allows them to make people happy and circulate the feeling of "happiness."

Money is just a tool of exchange to get what we need, but it is also energy.
I believe that learning how to use things effectively from an early age is important when you enter society.
Making someone happy makes me happy too. I want children to have that feeling from a young age and live their lives interacting with society.

That said, the world we live in is unstable and constantly changing.
The financial system may change dramatically, and we may enter a world where there is no need for money.
I want to think about my children and the strength they need to survive strong lives, without being trapped, no matter what the situation.

I may act a little bossy in front of my children, but I was a sheltered girl and grew up without knowing anything.
Now that I'm a mother, I enjoy battling my son at his desk as we learn together.