Fellow rookie parents, I discovered a website for teaching kids about money and I wanted to share. Wait, don’t click away just yet. I realize how boring that sounds (“Teaching about money.” Blech). But really, I could argue that teaching your children about money is one of the most important things you’ll do as a parent.
Now it sounds a little more interesting. And scary.
I found this site and fell in love with the direct approach to dealing with all kinds of money matters in a way a child can understand. They provide a milestone map to guide parents on the path to helping our kids develop a healthy relationship with money, all boiled down to 20 things your kid needs to know. And, no, ignoring money entirely like my family did doesn’t cut it.
click to enlarge
The list format — oh, how I love a good list! — takes some of the mystery and drama out of the money conversation. Though it does not tell me how to answer when Holden asks, “So, how much are you selling the old house for?” a question that I’m just not comfortable having him discuss on the playground (although perfect strangers could look it up online), it does provide financial goals and related real world activities for kids age three and up.
For example, preschoolers should learn that toys that cost money and begin to identify coins. Easy. But knowing that two big lessons I need to teach my kids are
> You may have to wait before you can buy something you want
and
> There’s a difference between the things you want and the things you need
is really helpful. If you’re too busy to click around, here’s a cheat sheet of the tips for each age.
What do you do to help your children become money-wise? Is there anything you wish your parents did differently when it comes to money?
Related posts:
- On introducing allowance – Find out the lengths we go to in my house with our first kid. Why do I think all bets are off by the time kid number three needs money?
- Allowance, taxes, potty training (from planet money) – Innovative suggestions: 100% health tax for buying candy, educational matching, and the dress code subsidy. That is soo geeky, perfect for me and my fam!
- Teaching our kids about money (from babycenter) – The one where Whitney shares her new ideas from a chat we attended by the authors of The Financially Intelligent Parent.
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I wasn’t compensated in any way for this review. I was very impressed and I hope you like it too. Images from moneyasyougrow.org.
I recently read a book called ‘the entitlement trap’. They had some interesting ideas including having your children completely manage all their money, even clothing purchases. They also had lots of ideas on building a feeling of belonging to a family but a lot of those were too involved for me.
Yesterday on NPR they were discussing paying your children for good grades in school. The results were really interesting to me.
Hi Tobasco, I heard half of that discussion about bribing kids and that boys tend to be more bribable than girls. Fascinating.
Love this post and that website is great!
We have done allowance with our boys since they were 4 and it has been one of the best teaching tools. It is not based on chores – we look at it as practice money.
The best part? It completely stops the “I wants” at the store.
As a mom of a 2 year old I am already thinking about how to Groom my son for success. Thanks for the great tip!
I also think teaching kids about money is very important. I find that when kids earn money to buy their own toys they take care of them better and value them. It’s an important lesson that is best learned when young.
@Jenn, I worry about kids not learning these lessons so best to sneak them in while they’re young.