Money is an essential part of your daily life; from buying groceries, to paying for fuel. Being financially sensible is something that is not taught at school and many parents do not always talk about with their kids. Helping children learn good money habits at a young age will put them on a path to becoming financially literate, which gives them a head-start to their adult lives! Here are 5 tips on how to teach your kids good money habits.
Model good behaviour
Lend by example, it’s known that kids watch and mimic their parents’ actions. Set a positive example for your children by demonstrating the smart spending and saving habits that you want them to learn.
Create opportunities to earn money
Children need their own money, so they can learn how to make decisions on how to manage it. Paying your kids pocket money for chores completed accomplishes just that, while teaching them the value of earning their own money.
Involve them in your budgeting
We all know the saying “Money doesn’t grow on trees” is a concept that children should learn early on. Show them how you create and track your monthly budget to live within your means. With their own money, they can monitor how much they have coming in and going out. There are websites that have free and ad-free online video games to help learning about money fun. We have been enjoying games on mortgage calculator, our favourites are Grocery Cashier and Idle Money tree. The games are super easy to use, informative and lots of fun.
Instil the importance of saving
For kids being told to save can be boring. encourage your kids to save by gifting them a piggy bank or savings jar. Help them decide how much to save by discussing their short-term goals for example saving up for a new video game and future life events.
Stress the importance of giving
When your child starts making money it is important to show them why it is important to give. If you value giving to others, you might want to instil that into your child at an early age. Allow them to choose a charity or organisation they want to donate to. They can see the impact by helping someone else that way you can teach that giving will really help someone with their needs and they can see the impact of their actions and know that their actions can go a long way.
When your child starts making money it is important to show them why it is important to give. If you value giving to others, you might want to instil that into your child at an early age. Allow them to choose a charity or organisation they want to donate to. They can see the impact by helping someone else that way you can teach that giving will really help someone with their needs and they can see the impact of their actions and know that their actions can go a long way.
