It is astounding that with the amount of focus that we place on money, as a society, that money management is not taught in all schools. When we look back on our youth, we never thought of money as important at all. In my 30’s I look back at just ten years ago and didn’t view money as all that important! As the magical overdraft would help me get my cash from the machine and the credit card as free money. In hindsight, this was a bad attitude to have. As I now have mounting debt that I could do without. The pressure to do more grown up things becomes more apparent. Buying a house, planning a wedding, the increase in fuel costs. These are all things that are tagged with the notion of being an adult. The shock of money responsibility just seemed to be slammed down in front of you as soon as you left university or gained full-time employment. So is there a way to help bridge the gap between a child and adult when it comes to money management?
Toddlers
When it comes to teaching toddlers the value of money, the best approach is to use a visual stimulus. The typical method is to use a piggy bank, which is an excellent idea in theory, but the child can’t see the money amounting. So the fruits of their labors go unnoticed. Seeing a jar fill up with coins and talking to them about how much more they’ve got than yesterday is a nice way to reinforce the idea of saving.
Young Children (8 and over)
The best method for young children and tweens is to let them make decisions about their choices in terms of what to buy. For example, if they wanted two items but can only afford to buy one, they need to make the decision. If they are unhappy with the outcome, then they have made their bed and must lie in it.
They also need to learn at this age that money is earned, not just given out. A simple method of teaching this is to reward them for doing household chores. Based on the task, you can give them more or less money. That way, the concept of pay grades is also introduced.
image from Flickr.com
Teenagers
If you have been able to reinforce some of the previous values at certain stages of their life, then helping them get a bank account is the next logical step. Having their own bank account that they can withdraw money from and are solely responsible for will teach them how to manage their money. If your child hasn’t got a bank account yet, you can apply for new bank account here now. And, as a consequence, if they run out of financial resources, they would need to get a job. That marks their first foray into adulthood.
All ages have their own attitude towards money. So in teaching them the value of it on a level that they can understand, whether by visual stimulus or making sure they know the repercussions of overspending, it will go a long way to instilling the values and responsibility of money management.
