January 5, 2011

Money


It's important for our children to learn about money and banking. Children don't seem to understand the concept of money. They don't know that it takes hard work to pay the bills and save for disposable income, etc. That's a difficult concept to grasp since they don't see the work or see the money going into the bank.

They have no idea of what things comparatively cost. Well, how would they? They don't work and they only see us pulling out our wallets for groceries and goods at the store. Where does that money come from? And how come John gets an XBOX and I don't? That is totally unfair to them. Where's the justice?

It is hard for them to understand and even harder for us to explain why how this works.

Give kids allowance and open bank accounts for them when they are young so they can learn to control spending. Teach them some allowance goes into the bank to save, some goes to charity and some is to spend.

If a child has his or her own money, then the sense of control comes when they are able to buy what they want. (Even if it is something you'd rather not want them to have -within reason, of course).

The learning comes when they want something and don't have enough in the bank or they witness the bank account balance dropping everytime they withdraw.

These are trial and error moments but ones well worth experiencing.