Piggy Food and Ippopodumiss Kisses

My little girl is very bright. As you may already know, she is 2 and a half. Thanks in part to school, and to Baby Einstein videos, she knows most of the animals, and the names of the planets.

One of my favorite things she does is say, "Ippopodumiss Kisses," and stretch her mouth open as wide as she can. She started this when she saw two hippos "kissing" with their mouths wide open on one of her videos.

I just wanted to share that, I think it's terribly cute.

More important is the story about piggy food. We have a small collection of piggy banks. I got one for her for her first Christmas, and we have gotten a few as gifts since then. My mother in law got her a plastic pig with big plastic colored coins, that when inserted, make the piggy sing a song, and count each coin that she puts in.

Since that first Christmas, my husband and I have a made a point of putting all of our pocket change in her piggy banks. She has graduated from the big plastic coins to real money. Whenever she sees pocket change, she gets so excited and says, "Piggy food, Oink, Oink!" Every day I come home and she searches my pockets for piggy food. She is having a hard time right now accepting that real piggy food goes in, but doesn't come back out.

We also recycle our own cans and bottles, rather than just putting them out in the recycle receptacle from the city. We put the money in her piggy banks. So far we have saved around $800.00. We also put any money that people give her for birthdays or holidays in her piggy bank.

When her piggy banks get full, we empty them, and roll up all the coins, and deposit it into a first start youth savings account for when she turns 18.

In addition, I am able to put away $100 every month into a 529 college savings fund for her. Why is this progressive? Because my parents took no such measures to save anything for my education, and I am irritated because it is really not hard to do.

My parents made about $200,000 a year while I was in high school. When I graduated high school they gave me the gift of living at home without paying rent while I was enrolled in school. They didn't give me money for school. They also refused to cosign for any student loans for me. In spite of all the tests I had taken, including the ASVAB, which told me that I could be successful in almost any field, I went to community college, and then to nursing school. If my parents had made any effort to help me financially, I would have been a doctor instead of a nurse. Such is life. It's not a bad life.

When my daughter turns 18 and graduates high school with dreams of traveling the world, or joining the Peace Corps, I don't want to laugh at her. I want her to have the means to live any dream she imagines, provided it does not threaten her wellbeing.

I do think it was good for me in one sense to work for my own advancement, but I want my own daughter to be able to dream bigger than I was allowed to.

I urge anyone reading this who has children to think about small ways you can contribute to your child(ren)'s future. You don't have to be rich. A 529 is like a mutual fund, and the earlier you start the better. It is designed to be in the "high risk" range for the first 3-5 years (I can't remember which) and then decreases the level of risk as the child grows. As little as $5 dollars a month can make a big difference over time.

Thinking about her future also makes me more aware of how I spend, and sometimes waste money. I get excited when I see pennies, that's "piggy food," after all. And I can't stand to see a single plastic or glass bottle, or aluminum can wander into the trash. Yes, I admit, I will rustle trash around in order to rescue these if need be. And yes, I will wash my hands afterwards.