Money boxes or Piggy Banks for the kids

Recently my boy ran up excitedly to me and told me.....

"Mummy, mummy, we don't need to ask daddy for money anymore. You can just knock this thing and money will come out."

His sister had been reading a book to him about some bunnies knocking open their piggy banks to buy some stuff. Haha. If only it were that simple. I had to explain to him that "this thing" is called a piggy bank and you have to put your own money in there to save. When you have saved enough or when your piggy bank is full, then you can knock it open to buy the things that you need.

To illustrate my point, I got each of them a money box with keys. Then I gave them some coins to put in their money box. (or pinky bank as my boy calls it since he can't pronounce piggy). After that they couldn't stop bugging me with more questions...

"Mummy, why can't I open the money box?"

"Mummy, I want more coins."

"Mummy, can I look inside?"

"Mummy, when can I have more coins?"

"Mummy, I want to take my coins out."

Haha. Looks like we have a long way to go in our lessons on saving money.

Have you ever wondered why a savings container is called a piggy bank and is in the shape of a pig? Well, apparently, it has got nothing to do with pigs but rather in the type of material, a type of clay jars called pygg used to keep the money in during days of old. Check this link out if you are interested in the origin of the piggy bank.