Easy ways to teach your children about the value of money, saving, and purchasing power. Ideas about giving a child responsibility.
Money is something everyone has to deal with sometime in their life, and how they handle their finances can impact every aspect of their life. It is necessary for parents to teach their children about the value of money, saving and responsibility.
Ann Landers said, "Kids who have everything they want soon lose respect for money and for their parents." Nothing could be more true. Parents who spoil their children by buying them absolutely everything they want are not only setting themselves up for financial devastation and despair, but are also damaging their children's future. Kids who don't know the value of money or how to be responsible with it will in the long run have a difficult time obtaining money, and a harder time holding onto it.
With the abundance of electronic, extravagant, toys and gizmos available today, children may look at the fact that they don't own something as a form of punishment from their parents or as a show of a lack of love. It is the parents' job to help a child understand this is not true.
There are many ways to help teach your child about money, one of the best is by grocery shopping. Let your child experience the grocery shopping, and other necessary bill paying with you. Let them see how much each item costs, and the total bill. $200 a week on groceries may not mean to much to them at first, but put it in terms they can understand. Explain that the new video game system they want cost MORE than 1 week worth of groceries. Always compare prices to something they can understand. That new action figure cost the same as two boxes of cereal that can feed you for over a week. This helps the child understand as children like to eat as much as they like to play!
You can also set your child up on an allowance system so they can learn the value of money first hand. They will also find out then how it feels NOT to have enough money to buy everything they want, something adults feel quite a bit of the time! By giving children an allowance you are giving them the responsibility to spend their own money the way they want. This will help you teach your child the value of saving and working towards something they want to achieve. A child who has to bypass other wanted purchases in order to save for a while to accumulate enough money to buy something they really really want, is learning how to prioritize. I can buy 4 packs of gum today, or save that money towards that new video game.
Once kids realize their money is their responsibility, they will also learn to appreciate things more. I spent 3 months doing extra chores to save enough money for this remote control car. I better be careful with it or I'll have to start all over again. They learn to take pride in their possessions and take care of them. They also learn if they had to work for something, mom and dad must be working for the things they buy too.
It's never too early to start teaching your children about the value of money, how to get it, how to save it, and what to do with it. It's also never too late. Children who have always had everything just given to them will take some time to adjust, but in the long run, they too will learn the pride in working for something they can call their very own.
