Grade 3 runs a 'class economy' with paper money, and she's already in debt to two classmates

cedar_river_683211 Jun 2026

New this year: the class earns paper rupees for jobs (line leader, plant waterer, board cleaner) and pays rent for their desk every Friday. The idea is to teach saving. In the first week my daughter spent her wages on 'renting' the window seat and borrowed from two friends to cover Friday's rent. I find it funny. My partner thinks we should have a talk with her about debt. Our daughter maintains the window seat was worth it. If your child's class does something like this, does the teacher step in, or do they let the kids get it wrong?

3 comments

mango_bottle_405611 Jun 2026
Ha, my son's class did this in class 4. He went bankrupt by week three and then became the class banker because nobody else wanted the job. Still the most I've ever seen him think about money ❤️
- amber_badminton_21011 Jun 2026
  Did the teacher let him charge interest? Asking because mine would.
peach_fern_775311 Jun 2026
window seat is a solid investment tbh. but rent on a desk at 8?? feels like a lot of capitalism for grade 3 😂
- cedar_river_683211 Jun 2026
  That was my first reaction too. Then I looked at what she has to do to earn the rupees, and it's mostly tidying. If it gets her to clean the board, the landlord can stay.
ochre_diary_640411 Jun 2026
Don't bail her out with real money. That's the only rule I'd have. My daughter's class did this last year and the kids whose parents 'topped up' learned nothing.