Teaching Kids Wise Money Habits

Show Them the Money: Teaching Your Children Good Money Habits

Money is a part of your everyday life. You use it to buy the things you and your family need and want. Buying food, paying rent or mortgage, buying clothes, taking a vacation, and paying for child care are some of the necessary things that require money. No matter what your personal beliefs are about money, we can all agree that it is part of our lives.

Children learn very early that you use money to get something in return. When you take your children to the store and buy something, they see you handing over money (or a credit card). They see you getting change in return. To get a gumball from the machine, you put in a quarter and out comes a big, round piece of bubble gum. The connection is clearly made. Although very young children may not understand prices or know how many pennies are in a dollar, they do watch and learn this exchange process.

From toddlerhood through adulthood, you can show and teach children about the value of money and how it’s used in their everyday lives. The use of money can also help children develop other skills such as saving, making choices, setting priorities, delaying gratification, sharing, and interacting with others. You can promote good lifelong money habits by modeling and sharing how you use money now and plan to use it in the future.

Using money involves using different math skills such as adding, subtracting, matching, and sorting. A child will learn how money “works” and how to best use it in stages, depending on his age and experience. As a parent or provider, you can help a child learn to use money and develop useful skills easily. (See chart on page 2.)

Research has shown that a child with positive social skills is more likely to succeed in school and in life. Some children need a lot of help to develop these skills. Research also shows that a child who is not able to interact positively with others tends to be unable to make and keep friends, and may have problems in school (such as acting out, and showing aggressive or violent behaviors).

Saving is an important part of learning how to manage money. Many children learn about saving by having “piggy” or coin banks for any money they receive. Saving money can help children learn how to plan, develop patience, and learn how to delay gratification—getting what they want. So whether you give your child an allowance or money for doing something in particular, this is a good way to work with him or her on saving.

Activities to do with your child:

• If you give your child an allowance—have your child save all or some of that money and decide when (once a month, or every two weeks) the saved money can be spent on something special.
• If you do not want to give your child an allowance— allow your child to earn money for chores or other activities that you choose. Again, agree that some or all of that money will be saved or used at a later time.
• Child care providers can give children in their care special “coins” or stars that they can save to exchange for something special at a later date. Many providers and teachers may already do some version of this kind of activity.
• Many banks have savings accounts for children. You may want to consider opening a savings account for your child and working with him or her to make deposits and keep track of savings as they grow.

SAVING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF LEARNING HOW TO MANAGE MONEY. MANY CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT SAVING…FOR ANY MONEY THEY RECEIVE

Use Money as a Way to Make Choices

Using money involves making choices. You start with a certain amount of money to spend and you make choices on how to spend it. When shopping, let your child observe how you make choices. Explain briefly why you decided on Brand A versus Brand B. “I could either buy this soap which smells good, or buy these two soaps which are on sale and will save me money.”

Allow your child to choose items sometimes when you are out shopping together. Offer a choice of two items that you would agree on, and then allow her to choose one of them.

Use Money to Develop Community Skills

Saving and sharing money can be used as part of a lesson in reaching a shared goal. It is also a good way to promote working with others. For example, allow your child to share in helping with a favorite charity, a family activity, or a neighborhood project. For your older child, let him or her help decide what kind of charity or project you want to work on as a family. If money is needed in the project, let your child contribute and decide how that money is to be used.

Use Money to Practice Social Skills
Using money involves many social skills and interactions with others. From speaking with salespeople to
the social rules that go along with making a purchase, practicing social skills is a big part of using money in everyday life.

Talking with your children at an early age about money and saving is important. You can help them form positive lifelong skills around money. This also involves learning and using other important life skills as well.
No matter what your financial circumstances or personal beliefs are on the use of money, you can help your child become “money-smart” and best use the money system to his or her advantage.