Shopping is like like a game of intrigue for me. I LOVE finding a deal! Not everyone in my family share the thrill I get from this. In fact my son, has never understood this. When it came to purchases, he thought it was my job to make sure he had what he needed. That meant I did the shopping. Sometimes he would let me know if he needed something and ask me to stop and get it. Other times, I said, "Come on, let's go get it." If we were going to pick up a video game, he was ready to get in the car and go! Now, if we were going to replace his worn out shoes, he wasn't excited.
For the most part, shopping was a non preferred activity. And finding a good deal was a real NON-PREFERRED activity. There were so many things to teach him about shopping for the right option for the best price. The internet has been a good tool. In the beginning of teaching this skill, I would make my son sit with me and I would look up an item and find out where it was sold. There are so many ways to compare prices using the Internet or comparison apps. Once we did that, there were buying choices.
1. We (I ) could purchase online. At this stage, I filled out the information that Amazon, WalMart or Target required and ordered it.
2. We could go to the store where the item was sold and look for it.
3. After a while, I asked him to use his phone. Before going to many places, I asked my son son to call the store and see if it had the item in stock. This was a SUPER NON-PREFERRED activity. It took a lot of encouragement as well as making the phone call a prerequisite for preferred purchases and activities. I did a lot of modeling and prompting to teach my son how to ask for the information over the phone.
4. Next steps were making purchases himself. As there are so many ways to make purchases: cash, debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, reloadable debit and online. There were a lot of skills he needed before he could make a purchase. Every card reader is different. He had to practice how to use different ones at a variety of stores. He had to learn how to get points for purchases at Walgreens and CVS. He also needed to be taught how to order things by himself online. I will speak honestly here, this was a long and tedious process.
A few weeks ago, my son called from college. He didn't want to ride the bus to WalMart (no surprise) but he wanted some Pepsi for his dorm room. He had gone to a convenience store on campus and checked the price. He called me and asked if it was too expensive. I said it was a little higher than WalMart but not a lot. I told him it was probably worth it to spend a few more cents to save an hour of time. In the past, I had directed the price comparison. This time, he was! That was a great day for this mom!
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