Time Travel With Madam Social

Topic: Explain The Purpose Of Money

“Hello, Madam Social!” kids wish together. Madam Social is Uncle Math’s friend. She keeps travelling between the civilisations in her time machine. Today she is here to take the kids also into the past. “So, are you all ready?” she questions. “Yes!” say the excited kids.

Soon, Madam Social starts her time machine. Splash! They vanish into the past.

The people have long hair, two legs and two hands. They are also wearing some different styled clothes. Everything looks so different here. The kids are amazed looking at the old era and their living world.

Soon, they reach a market. There are so many people buying and selling things here. “Apples!” says Squarho. He has been looking for food for quite some time now. Finally, having found something to eat, he rushes to the shop and asks the shopkeeper the price of the apples.

The shopkeeper raises his hand with one apple, and the other palm is open. “Eh? He must be wanting the money on the other hand”, guesses Squarho seeing his open and closed palms. He quickly keeps 1 coin in his hand and takes the apple.

The shopkeeper throws the coin back at Squarho and snatches the apple from him. He also screams something in his language. “I guess he is angry!” says Squarho and runs to save himself. Madam Social quickly rushes to help him.

She gives a mango and takes one apple in exchange with the shopkeeper. “Zap, Zappy Zoom, Zola”, she says. The shopkeeper smiles now. The kids are shocked. “What did you tell him? What language was that? Why did you give him a mango to get an apple?” questions Triho.

Since Madam Social keeps travelling between the civilisations, she is well-versed with the language. “Haha! Children, this is called the Barter System. A barter system is an act of trading goods in exchange for other goods without using money. Like I exchanged a mango to buy an apple from the shopkeeper”, she explains.

“Interesting! So, anything can be exchanged for anything in this barter system?” questions Cirha. “Yes! Until the two parties involved are happy and satisfied”, answers Madam Social. Suddenly, they hear loud screams from one part of the market. It looks like there is a fight going on. Let us go and find out.

“Zap, Zappy Zoom, Zola, Vonka, Menti”, hear Madam Social. “Oh! So these two parties wanted to trade. She wants 10 bags of rice for 5 spoons. The other party is furious because it is unfair to ask such a huge quantity for 5 spoons. They have decided to cancel the deal”, she explains.

“Oh! This barter system is inappropriate. Nobody can decide what is right and wrong here. Thus this might lead to frauds”, says Triho. “Exactly! To avoid these issues, the concept of money was introduced by the governments almost 1000s years ago. The coins that we use today in Samper town are a type of money. Since the money is more standardised, the trade is easier”, explains Madam Social.

“To make it more convenient for the citizens various coins of 1, 2, 5, and 10 were introduced by the government. Slowly, these coins got difficult to carry because of their weight and required more metal. So the 100, 500, 1000, etc. notes were brought into the market by the government”, explains Madam Social.

“Children, you know what? Advancements in technology have also made it possible for us to trade online using online methods of transactions these days. These transactions are approved by the government and can happen using digital wallets and currencies”, says Madam Social. “Online payment? Awesome!” says the kids. They are amazed.

“Wow! The government is so smart. I will join the government when I grow up”, says Cirho. Everybody laughs. Cirha wants to eat something now. She grabs an apple from the tree and rushes to the nearby shop.

Without saying a word, she gets her apple exchanged for a pineapple. Squarho is amazed, and Cirha is happy. Everyone is enjoying their time in the past.

“Time to leave!” says Madam Social. Everybody quickly boards the time machine and is ready to leave.

Splash! Splash! They are back to the present. The barter system and the story of money were interesting. Would you also want to travel to the past?

We Learnt That…

• Barter system is an act of trading one type of goods in exchange for another type of goods without using money.
• Money is important to have safe and standardized trade.
• Coins and notes are types of money.

Let’s Discuss!

• Who is Madam Social and where was she taking us?
• Why was Squarho unable to get the apples?
• How did Squarho identify the feelings of the shopkeeper?
• What is a Barter System? Explain with an example.
• Do you think trading through money is better? Why or why not?