Imparting sound financial habits to your children at a young age is certainly one of the most essential lessons of life. Good parents always understand the importance of teaching their children about finances. The sooner the children realize the value of money, the better. Most parents put off money-talks with their children until they reach high school. In the meantime, some children have already developed poor financial conventions. Instead of holding up financial lessons until teenage years, try giving financial lessons to your children at an early age. They would find managing money comparatively easy as they grow up to become responsible adults.
Educate your children about money and saving in a fun and addictive way. Here are a few tips that will surely help you out.
Pay your children an allowance
Instead of simply giving out cash whenever they ask, give your children a few dollars as an allowance each week. Urge on them to save a reasonable part it. A transparent see-through piggy bank would serve the purpose. As the children see their savings grow, they will stay motivated towards saving money. This will give them a psychological fulfillment and fill them with confidence.
Make them self-reliant
Sowing the seeds of self-reliance in your children’s mind is possibly the best thing you could do to them. Self-reliance will take your children a long way in life. Start with small and simple things. You can tell them to vacuum-clean the house. They can help you doing the dishes or laundry. They can mow the lawn once in a while. As they learn doing simple household chores at a young age, they won’t appoint someone else to do it for them when they grow up. Your children will be thankful to you for this.
Take them shopping
It would be really smart of you to take along children when shopping. Tell them about the budget and the list of important items that you would buy. Stick to the list as you shop. This will set an example of ‘living with the means’ for your children.
Cash only
Using credit or debit card in front of your children to pay the grocery bill is not a good idea. It is advisable to use cash instead. Let your child hold and feel money. Give the money to the child and tell him to pay it to the employee at the billing counter. This will help them understand the give-and-take system and money’s worth.
Active saving
The goal of this overall activity is to inculcate healthy money habits in your children, and not turn them into stingy little people. Saving should not come at a cost of good things in life; rather it should come from taking up budget activities. Make your children active savers, and not the passive ones. Tell them about inexpensive and creative means to have fun. Take them out for an evening walk. Involve them while cooking meals. Tell them how cooking at home instead of dining at a restaurant can help save a lot of money.
Make use of discount coupons
Teach your children about availing good deals. Coupons are a great way to save on daily needs like grocery and clothing. Encourage them to go through the newspaper and look for discount coupons. Tell them how these coupons help you buy more for less.
Reward your children
Your children deserve something in return for saving a few dollars every week and learning about finances from you. It is very essential that you have a sound reward system in place to make sure they do not lose interest. The rewards should be strictly non-monetary. Surprise your children by cooking their favorite dish for lunch on a weekend and celebrate their accomplishment with the family.
If you take simple steps today, your children will enjoy a debt-free and financially sound life tomorrow. Do not consider talking to children about finances as a taboo. Neither should you bicker about finances in front of them. If you’re comfortable enough throughout the process, the children would learn even better.
