Building Tomorrow's Identity Today: The 4MQ Framework for Early Childhood Resource Education Through Narrative

This conceptual study proposes a narrative-based intervention designed to foster impulse control and future thinking in preschoolers (ages 3-5) through the development of their identity. Using the Current Me formula—where present identity emerges from past experiences, future vision, internal feelings, and external influences—we will analyse how Max and the Bananas That Vanished serves as a form of narrative scaffolding, facilitating movement within the Four Money Quadrants (4MQ) framework. The 20-minute classroom protocol combines storytelling with token-based activities to help children explore resource decisions as identity choices rather than rules to follow. While empirical validation awaits, this approach offers educators practical tools for integrating financial concepts with social-emotional learning through developmentally appropriate narrative pedagogy. A key contribution of this framework is the identification of observable indicators that could be developed into validated measures of early financial identity development.