Teaching kids about money. When is the best time to start teaching kids about money? Talking to toddlers about money… Teaching older kids about money and money management… Goal setting and self-control…

Here are some tips to consider for when and how to teach kids about money management.

We are all consumers, and our little people are targeted even more than adults. As soon as they are old enough to say, “I want that” we need to start thinking about how we can set them up for financial success in the future.

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My husband and I come from two polar opposite backgrounds.

I was taught that you don’t spend anything you don’t have. My parents were always very generous, but I grew up with the mindset to save and not spend frivolously.

My husband grew up with a single parent and started working as soon as he could. However, he also had the mindset that he could buy anything he wanted as long as he could make the payments. This definitely got him in trouble over the years.

We have a unique situation where we come from two extremes. Although he has started to adopt the same philosophy I have, it has taken some time to change his thinking. About 7 years! 🙂

We are both interested in setting our own children up for success and teaching them early the value of money and smart spending.

When is the best time to start teaching kids about money?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s never too early to start teaching kids about money.

As soon as a child can ask for items from the store, it’s time to slowly start to teach them about money.

Tips for talking about money with Toddlers

Toddlers are too young to really understand the abstract concept of money, but it’s never too late to introduce them to good habits.

As they’re older, they will learn about counting money in school, but the values and spending habits come from you.

When teaching kids about money, you don’t need to share money problems or concerns with them. Just set a foundation for a respect for money and ingrained healthy spending and saving habits.

Illustrate how you use your money

Start to expose your toddler to money concepts early by simply sharing with them how you spend your money. As you make money choices, narrate your thoughts out loud.

This extends far beyond money and savings. Anytime you can narrate your thought processes when children are young is a good thing. They are little sponges, but they aren’t mind readers. So, simply sharing your inner thoughts out loud gives them access to information without requiring anything on their part.

Let them help you count your money

Coins can be very tough. So, instead, as soon as they are able to count, let them help you count out your dollar bills or pennies.

If they are getting a small toy from the store, or have birthday money, try to have them count it out along with you.

Play with coins instead of toys

From the time our kiddos were 1, we have had Easter Egg Hunts. They wanted to find the eggs over and over again. So, instead of filling them with candy and toys, we used spare change.

Let me tell you a secret: Kids are just as thrilled with a penny as they are a piece of candy or a small toy!

Find opportunities and activities where they can use coins instead of other items. You will have the opportunity to expose them to money, and they will start to put a bit of value it. As a bonus, you can work on coin recognition and counting as they get older.

Teaching kids about money starting at school-age

Once kids are in school, it’s the perfect time to start teaching them about the value of money, healthy spending, and saving.

I don’t know about you, but my kiddos always want to buy something… Giving them those core money values can help eliminate the, “can we get this?” questions.

At-Home Money Curriculum

Teaching kids about money – the history of money, value of money, money spending, and money saving – can be a lot easier if you take some help from outside resources.

There are worksheets, home-schooling resources, or even programs you can purchase to make teaching kids about money easier.

Money Savvy Kids @Home

We just started with the Money Savvy Kids @Home program, which is aimed at kiddos 6-12. Our little guy is 6 and it seems just perfect for him.

There is an included CD-ROM with the lessons, and they are perfect for his reading level. After finishing the lesson, we move onto the student workbook, and I glance through my parent handbook for some further tips. Also included is a poster, goal setting stickers, and an activity and coloring book.

It’s very quick-paced and he easily got through a lesson without becoming bored or frustrated.

His favorite part is definitely the piggy bank. He wants to fill it up with money from his wallet, and his first contribution was a quarter to the “Donate” slot. I’m holding him off until we get through the lessons and he learns the concepts before letting him decide where to deposit his money.

We’re loving this system, and highly recommend it. It’s very quick, comes with a lot of resources, and is a great way to teach your child these concepts. Why try to reinvent the wheel, right?

You can learn more about the Money Savvy Kids @Home program here.

 

Goal Setting

One of the most important skills to teach when it comes to money is self-control. Heck, one of the most important skills for life is self control!

Setting children up with the ability to wait for a later reward instead of being impulsive with their money is absolute key.

This is a great thing about the Money Savvy piggy bank, it has a designated slot for spending, saving, donating, and investing. They also have other 4-compartment banks in different colors, cow, and sports theme.

In my previous life in Applied Behavior Analysis, this is something we worked on a lot! Self-control and impulsivity were the topics of a lot of papers, so I have some tips for you…

Tips for goal setting

1. Start small so the goal is attainable and they can feel the pride of success

2. Gradually increase the amount of effort required to reach that goal

3. If the goal is very large, implement mini goals

There are a lot of things to consider when teaching kids about money. We didn’t even touch allowances or chores!

The main point here is to get them started early.

The most important thing when teaching kids about money is to build that solid foundation so they view spending and saving in the correct way so they are successful in the future.

 

Have you started talking to your kiddos about money? At what age do you introduce different concepts?

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