Teaching children to manage money
 |
| (Jack Moreh/FreeRangeStock.com) |
Search Google for ways to teach your child financial responsibility, and you'll be hit with hundreds of sites offering their advice. It's overwhelming. I know.
And when you're like my husband and me — people who went a little crazy when they first credit card ... and their second ... and their third, etc. — it can be even more of a challenge to find the best advice because high on the list of what to do is to be a good role model. We're much better with money now, of course, but we're still far from perfect.
Right now, my daughter treats her weekly allowance like she treats anything else she owns. She takes her money to her bedroom and just tosses it in. There it sits on her bedroom floor until her dad or I notice and tell her to put it where it goes.
Even though this is her go-to when she gets her allowance, my husband and I still want to give it to her. Neither one of us got allowances as kids. Our first taste of managing money came when we got our first job. And as I mentioned, we "went a little crazy" with our cash and credit. Don't get me wrong; plenty of kids grow up to be financially responsible even without having been given $5 or $20 a week (or whatever the going rate was back in the 1970s and 1980s). But our hope is that exposing her to money while she's dependent on us will help her to be more responsible when she's out on her own.
That's the first step.
I think the second step should be to get her to take care of the money she has, rather than just tossing it in her bedroom.
The third step, well, that's where all the sites I've googled come in. A common idea throughout all of the sites I've visited teaching children why saving is important. A U.S. News & World Report article recommends making the child save a portion of every dollar they get, whether it's allowance or a gift. Our daughter has a lot of wants, as probably most 7-year-olds do, and I've toyed with the idea of making her buy that Barbie styling head she's had her eye on by saving up her allowance until she has enough to get it.
The U.S. News & World Report article also recommends letting children see you give to charitable causes. I like that idea. My husband and I do donate, though not very often. It never occurred to me that seeing us donate would be good for her.
As we work toward our goal to teach her to be better with money when she leaves home than we were, I'm sure I'll do a lot more googling. But I think we're off to a good start.
Sources
MerrillEdge, Tips to Teach Young Children Financial Responsibility.
U.S. News & World Report, 5 Strategies for Raising Financially Smart Children
I think the second step should be to get her to take care of the money she has, rather than just tossing it in her bedroom.
The third step, well, that's where all the sites I've googled come in. A common idea throughout all of the sites I've visited teaching children why saving is important. A U.S. News & World Report article recommends making the child save a portion of every dollar they get, whether it's allowance or a gift. Our daughter has a lot of wants, as probably most 7-year-olds do, and I've toyed with the idea of making her buy that Barbie styling head she's had her eye on by saving up her allowance until she has enough to get it.
The U.S. News & World Report article also recommends letting children see you give to charitable causes. I like that idea. My husband and I do donate, though not very often. It never occurred to me that seeing us donate would be good for her.
As we work toward our goal to teach her to be better with money when she leaves home than we were, I'm sure I'll do a lot more googling. But I think we're off to a good start.
Sources
MerrillEdge, Tips to Teach Young Children Financial Responsibility.
U.S. News & World Report, 5 Strategies for Raising Financially Smart Children
Comments
Post a Comment