The value of saving

Saving is a principal some of us learn as a youth, others wish we had learned it as a youth, because now we are broke. A few days ago I was with Early and Adama, two 7 year old in my neighborhood. I was heading on out to meet my counterpart when Early reached in his pocket and showed me his 25cfa he just received. As soon as he held the piece up he demanded that I take him to the Maison Communal to play video games. Each game cost only 25cfa, which would alot him 3 minuets of fun. I explained I had to work first, but after we could go and play a game. On the long walk to my counterpart's house, Early pulled my hand and told me to stop. "I want to buy a candy Djiby." I tried to explain to him that if he bought candy now, he wouldn't have any money to play video games with. He looked at me and started chanting the word for video game. We continued until we got to another corner with a different store. Once again, "Djiby, stop, I want a candy." We went over the reason he should save his money once again and we continued on. After the fourth time, we finally go to the house, I had my meet and greet and my counterpart walked me out of her house. The first thing she said too me was, "Where are their shoes?" On the walk back all Early could talk about was playing video games and the different ones he would play. On the way back he ran into a store and to my surprise he came out not with candy, but another 25 piece. Early was working his young entrepreneurial skills to make some money for the video games. We finally got to the video game room and Early chose to play a Tekken fighting game. The only button on the machine that worked was the kick. Early quickly lost out to the computer, which had the capability to duck under the kick. After the two minuets Early looked a little sad and moved on to use his second 25cfa. It was a shooting game, with two pistols. M. Zeff let the other boy play also even without paying. The boys took the guns out of the holsters and started shooting at the targets. None of the boys hit one target and the game ended within a minuet. The kids just looked at each other in pure disappointment, but then I yelled shoot, shoot. The demo had come on and every single target got shot and then the next demo came on and so on. I watched the kids shoot at the demo for a good 10 minuets. They had the time of their lives and just wanted to keep on playing. Even though they weren't actually playing they had a great time and afterward all they would do was talk about who won the match.

So to get to the point, teach the value of saving, because in the end they will realize that they can eat candy for a second or they can parle that money to do something they have never done before. None of these kids have ever played video games, because they always spend their money right away. Also maybe these kids will grow up and have children, when they do they might even save enough money to but their kids shoes, instead of spending it right away on useless stuff.