BTW what 3yo is out buying toys for themselves? Bad example.
You are confusing the physical act of purchasing with cognitive conditioning. Obviously, the parent holds the wallet at the checkout counter. But the child must hold the mental ledger at home.
The ages of 3 to 5 represent the neurological "golden window" for hardwiring a low time preference. To actually learn delayed gratification (the Marshmallow Experiment), a toddler must be able to mathematically correlate their daily discipline with the final reward.
If a toy costs 233 sats and they earn 10 sats for a daily chore, a 3-year-old cannot do the math to realize it takes 23 days of work. The numbers are too abstract. The lesson breaks down.
If that same toy costs exactly 10 nahs, and they earn 1 nah per chore, they can literally count the required days on their ten fingers. They aren't the ones swiping the credit card at the store, but they are the ones learning the fundamental law of capitalism: 10 days of discipline equals one tangible reward.
If a child cannot count the money, they cannot value the time it takes to earn it.
You are confusing the physical act of purchasing with cognitive conditioning. Obviously, the parent holds the wallet at the checkout counter. But the child must hold the mental ledger at home.
The ages of 3 to 5 represent the neurological "golden window" for hardwiring a low time preference. To actually learn delayed gratification (the Marshmallow Experiment), a toddler must be able to mathematically correlate their daily discipline with the final reward.
If a toy costs 233 sats and they earn 10 sats for a daily chore, a 3-year-old cannot do the math to realize it takes 23 days of work. The numbers are too abstract. The lesson breaks down.
If that same toy costs exactly 10 nahs, and they earn 1 nah per chore, they can literally count the required days on their ten fingers. They aren't the ones swiping the credit card at the store, but they are the ones learning the fundamental law of capitalism: 10 days of discipline equals one tangible reward.
If a child cannot count the money, they cannot value the time it takes to earn it.