Discussing the bailout with my 7-year-old

[lostnfound]

I sometimes take it as a creative challenge to explain complicated issues in ways that he can understand. On the drive to school yesterday, we talked about what it means to say that 'history doesn't repeat himself, but it does rhyme alot'. "bear, bear, bear, bear" and "bear, care, dare, fare, hair" Then we talked about how my dad was raising a young family back in the 1930s, times were hard, because the banks had suddenly run out of money and the country went into a depression, and many people lost their jobs.

I told him there was a problem going on in the country right now, some of the banks were running out of money, and everyone is wondering whether history was going to rhyme again. And that the President wanted to take a "trillion" dollars from the working class and middle class to give to the banks so that they wouldn't collapse. (Son loves big numbers.)

"Where's the money coming from, Mom?"

"From us, honey. He wants a few thousand dollars from you, from me, from everyone."

"But I don't have any money!"

"That's true. So he wants to borrow it from someone now, and then you can pay it back when you get older."

"No, Mom! I don't want to!... I know -- just don't tell them about me!"

"Well, honey, unfortunately they are going to know about you as soon as you get your first paycheck."

About this time the traffic on the interstate slowed to a crawl -- conveniently, because it provided a great analogy.

I told him that the day before had been a big day in history, because the president had asked for $700 billion, and the congress had said NO. That personally, I'm happy about it, but I realized that there could be a downside. "What is it?" "Well, normally, money is moving all of the time between businesses and people. Right now, the money isn't moving very fast; it's all kind of stuck in a traffic jam, just like we are right now. Which is a problem, because businesses depend on the money moving at a good speed. So people are wondering how long the traffic jam will last, and whether or not history is going to start rhyming."

He seemed lost in thought, staring out the window. "Bored yet?" I asked. "No Mom, it's really interesting."

[funflower]

1. Sounds like a wonderful teachable moment and a child who hasn't lost his natural curiosity. Cool!