Teaching kids about money
Over the past few years a rising number of parents, teachers, and figures of authority have realized the importance of teaching kids about money from a relatively early age. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should be ditching all the picture books and fairy tales and replacing them with news cuttings about the best mortgage rates on the market! There are some fun ways to help kids learn about the importance of money, and whilst they will probably not realize that they are doing anything more than having fun at the time, the things that they can pick up from you are things that will carry into the future as they grow older.
Many believe that had the kids of years gone by received more information about the importance of money the financial crisis may not have been as bad as it was. Increasing importance has been placed on teaching kids about money over recent years and some schools have even introduced various forms of money management courses into the curriculum.
Some simple and fun ways to teach your kids about the value of money include:
- A simply piggy bank: If you give your child an allowance of pocket money, invest in a money box – perhaps a novelty one that does something each time cash is put in or one that is associated with their favourite characters and cartoons. They will quickly get into the habit of putting small amounts of cash into there. You can then let them treat themselves or even match what they have saved once a month or so, enabling them to see that saving can be rewarding
- Make saving competitive: If you have two or more kids, make the saving game a competitive one, where whoever has saved the most money at the end of each month gets a prize from you
- Make them feel like they are helping you: Kids these days are very savvy when it comes to computers and the Internet. You can help them to learn more about looking for ways to save by asking them to look for good deals for you via the Internet. Tell them you are looking for something that you want to buy and then ask them to try and find the cheapest price and best deal for you. They will feel very important and will want to do a good job
- Play money games: There are many simple board games such as Monopoly, which are great fun to play but also have underlying teachings about the importance of cash and careful money management for kids.
Alex is a financial writer and blogger. He writes about everything from mortgages to credit cards to payday loans.