As parents, it is our responsibility to teach our children the important lessons in life. How to walk, ride a bike, use your manners, to share with others, work now play later, the list goes on. Money management is another biggie that parents run into but sometimes don’t know the best way to go about it. When do you start teaching your child about money? How should you go about it? We’ve compiled our favorite ways to teach your child how to save and at what age to do it at.
FOR TODDLERS:
At a kindergarten or elementary age, kids still don’t understand fully what money is or the value of it. Piggy banks are a great way to teach kids how to save. Having a clear bank or jar is even better. Allow the kids to understand the less they spend, the more they’re able to put into the savings jar and they can visually see the amount grow. Praise them every time they put money in there for the future. They will begin to understand the more money you save and put away the better for later on!
FOR TWEENS:
Allowances are one thing, but giving “commissions” is a whole different level. Teach your child that cleaning your room to this standard by making their bed and putting everything away is worth X amount of dollars, whereas cleaning the bathroom by wiping down the mirror, cleaning the toilet and bathtub is worth Y amount of dollars. Pay them based on the amount of chores they do around the house. This will allow them to understand that money is something that is earned, not just given.
TEENAGERS:
By now if you’ve gone through and done similar life lessons when they were going through the tweens age, they should have a decent amount of money saved up. This is your chance to teach them about a checking and savings account. Teach them that after you do your chores you’re given a commission, with that commission, a percentage is put into your savings for later and the rest into your checking for other transactions.
If you have an interesting way of teaching your child money management, we’d love to hear about in the comments!