In Our Parents’ Shoes
For two weeks, Grade 9 students probed into the world of adulthood, attempting to live the economical situation that most of the Lebanese families live on a daily basis.
Students were divided into couples who were later assigned with specific incomes, ranging from $ 380 to $ 1500 per month. During the procedure, fictitious money was used to replicate the real thing. Each pair had to manage living within the limits of their budget for two weeks, taking into consideration different kinds of expenditures ( taxes, food, clothing, schooling…). At the end of these two weeks, the couples presented a list of their expenditures using bar graphs and pie charts to show the various percentages of their expenses, making their economical situation more visual. This part of the presentation was accomplished with the help of the Math teacher’s instructions on how to calculate and tabulate the percentages according to their expenses.
The whole experience was a very close simulation of reality, helping some students to anticipate their future as working individuals who have to deal with the economical demands of the real world. Some even extended their responsibility to engulf other people and that was by thinking about sharing some of their money with others. Eventually, the students’ reflections about the project were mainly revolving around the idea that they now see things from their parents’ perspective, and as one student stated, “Through this project, I got the chance to be in my parents’ shoes for once.”
Hiba Chamandi
Grade 9



Some of the students’ reflections:
• “ During the last two weeks, we were paired up to investigate the secrets of parenting and family. We had a specific goal and that is to play the role of our parents and know the true meaning of money and the way they spend it. When we started the activity, it sounded easy but after a lot of decision-making, it seemed more confusing. This project made me more open minded to the sacrifices that our parents make for us and the reason that they work.” (Yasmine Makkawi)

• “This activity opened my eyes to many aspects I never realized how serious they are until I experienced them. First, we had the highest budget compared to the other couples (1500$), so we spent as much money as we wanted. Throughout this activity I discovered how people with an acceptable income live a comfortable life getting all their life necessities and enjoying all ranges of entertainment. But after all this spending we found out that there is still money left so an idea came to my mind, “Why don’t well-to–do people give portions of the left money to people who are in need?” Somehow I realized that the main reason behind the discrimination between social classes is that the rich always like to be better than others, so they prefer to have more money rather than sharing it.” (Soumaya Jbaei)

• According to me, this experience was a guide to handling the future responsibilities. When I started this activity with my partner, it was sort of hard to get used to the fact that I was obliged to manage spending money on households and basic necessities, but during this procedure I started to get used to this fact. I would like to thank you Miss Hiba, for giving me the chance to be in my parents’ shoes for once and to appreciate their hard work in order to raise me the right way. (Hussein Shayto)