Every Penny Counts
As a young girl, I remember my mother kept a stash of coin wrappers handy when we would accumulate a good number of coins, especially pennies. At the time, I never realized I was experiencing hands-on math lessons as I counted out the specific number of coins, grouping them, for the various wrappers. And then I would determine the total amount of money once I finished. I learned that the wrapped nickels, dimes, and quarters equaled more money than the pennies.
I don’t recall what my mother did with the wrapped coins. More than likely, she took my math work bundles to the bank. In the 1960s, I learned lessons from my parents that every penny counts. Especially for a family of six.
Fast forward sixty years.
Pondering what I could do with my bowl of accumulating pennies, I recalled my childhood memory of money wrappers. I wondered, do they even make coin wrappers any more now that the banks have those coin counting machines? Sure enough, I found penny wrappers at a dollar store.
With my purchase in hand, and knowing my nine-year-old grandson was coming over for a visit, I grinned. Kenny would have a hands-on math lesson with Nana and the pennies and the wrappers.
And so it was, a few days later, Kenny and I sat at our kitchen table with the bowl of pennies and wrappers, and I shared with him my childhood memory. I told him to start counting the pennies by tens so we could group them up into piles of fifty. Sometimes the wrappers collapsed and the pennies fell out the bottom, and we’d have to start over. But we eventually got the hang of it.
When all was said and done, Kenny asked, “Nana, what are you going to do with these? It’s only pennies. It’s not very much money.”
I seized this teachable moment and replied, “Ah, Kenny, every penny counts. Have you heard this expression before?”
He shook his head no.
Another teachable moment.
We talked about saving, spending, and giving. In the end, I reminded Kenny that every penny counts. Another special memory for my mental family history book!
Have any of you wrapped coins before? Any childhood memories out there? I love to hear from my readers! Scroll down to make a comment. I read and reply to all comments and emails. If you have a friend who would enjoy this blog, please feel free to forward.
