“Metamorphosis!” my almost-5-yr old son said. He is fond of saying this word now ever since he watched the Sesame Street show about animals that undergo “a BIG change”. Mama is proud of course! Kids learn like sponges!
In the eyes of a child
I talked about Trading activities I do with them — that’s coming from me. You know, to help myself out. 🙂 It tickles me though that the children ask questions or observe something and I can give them a start at acquiring Trading knowledge. So far we’ve talked about :
- SEASONS. My 6year old daughter just asked me why we don’t get to eat strawberries anymore — I told her, they don’t grow that well during cold weather. She agreed, having noticed leaves in plants fall off. While in the summer, the warm sun make them grow well so there’s plenty of fruit and so they are cheap. The same Seasonal concept applies in Trading. Oil is my favorite example –say when the US summer starts out, a lot of people go for driving holidays and the demand is high at this point. It also coincides with hurricane season on the Atlantic side, that could crossover to the Gulf of Mexico where a lot of US oil comes from. When hurricanes are strong and blow into this area, it could affect the “supply” because the oil rigs have to be closed for safety. Oil prices could spike. After the “summer” season, the Oil price could drift lower in what is called “shoulder season” when the demand goes down.
- VALUE. School lunch is usually a sandwich. I put it in a resealable sandwich bag and ask my daughter to bring back the bag. Most days, I’d ask for it and she’d say she forgot. I explained, I need the sandwich bag back so I can still use it to put things to keep in the freezer. That way, we are able to get as much value for each bag. They actually cost about 5cents each. So to help her understand “value” — I told her, “if you bring back the sandwich bag, I can give you the 5cents so you have your own money” ( her eyes sparkle after hearing this), and she’s been bringing me back the sandwich bags. 🙂 There is no doubt she now understands “value”. In Trading or acquiring investments, Value is a good measurement to use, after all, we only want to hold on to something that has “value”. So then if a company’s stocks are “under-valued” it is a good BUY for long term, and if stocks are “over-valued”, then it is time to SELL.
- TRENDS — my son wakes up early, sometimes even before I finish my preparations for trading. He would sit at my lap and he’d see me checking stock charts – 1 year, 6 months, 3 months in duration. This would show movements in the price and he would often trace the chart with his head bobbing along, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down. This simple observation is used a lot for Trading. In Trading, prices “trend” or move in a certain direction, the trader could then apply a strategy to take profit from it.
Future Traders?
A friend of mine have said my children could be “traders” in a few years. Like any parent, I would be happy and proud for them to follow in my (high-heeled) footsteps. 🙂 They do have other things going on though, like my son loves to sing, and my daughter loves to draw. For me, it is enough that I am able to teach them all I know that could help them look into the future with high hopes .
To give them roots and wings.
Sweet Childhood - Photo by Noel Abejero
