I’m always trying to find ways to teach my kids about the value of money. I figure if they get some direction from me early in life, it will hopefully set them up to be good with their own money as young adults.
My parents taught me from a young age about the value of money. Us kids were given pocket money for doing odd chores around the house and then required to use that for things we wanted.
So anyway I thought I’d write a quick post on the 10 ways I teach my kids about the value of money. Of course some of these tips will only be useful depending on how old your kids are, or you may need to change them up a bit to ensure they are age appropriate.
Anyway, let’s get into my top 10 tips on how to teach your little one about money!
5 Ways to Teach Kids About Money
Talk to your kids about how much things cost
One thing I’ve done with my kids from a very young age is talk to them about how much things cost. How you speak to them will change as they grow and how much they understand.
But my oldest understands that pretty much everything costs money in some way or another. The light in our house costs money, as does the hot water, the shows she watches on TV so on and so on.
The other day she wanted a $5 croissant for breakfast and I said no because it was too expensive. She went on to say it’s only $5. But when I explained we could buy a box of cereal for $5 that would last her 2 weeks, as opposed to one meal, she understood.
Pay your kids for completing chores around the home
One thing I’m quite firm on is not just paying the kids pocket money for no reason. My kids need to earn their pocket money for completing chores around the house. And when I say chores around the house, I’m not referring to things that benefit them alone – like cleaning their room, making their bed etc. I’m talking about chores that help the family.
Some of the chores my kids earn pocket money for are things like packing the dishwasher, unpacking the dishwasher, taking washing off the line, putting other family members’ clothes away, helping prepare dinner etc etc.
I don’t think children should be paid for chores that they need to complete for themselves regardless. Instead, I want them to do tasks that assist others.
My kids don’t get a set amount of pocket money each week. Instead, it is task based – so if they don’t do the jobs, they don’t get the cash. I think this is also a great way to get children to start to think about what opportunities there are to make money.
Help your kids set financial goals
One thing I hate when we are out and about is when the kids ask me to buy them a toy or something. Although they know with me, the answer is always “do you have enough money”.
If one of your children wants something that you wouldn’t otherwise buy them, tell them how much it is and see if you can help them work towards saving up for it themselves.
This also helps avoid impulse buying as the children need to decide if they are prepared to put in the work – first of all earning the money, but then choosing if this is really how they want to spend their hard earned cash.
Put your children’s pocket money in a glass jar
Instead of having the kids money in a purse or something, I recommend having a glass jar for each of your children to put their money in. I think having a visual of their money is an excellent way for them to watch it grow.
Plus when they spend their money and see the money disappear from their jar, it will help them realise the value of money and that as my mum always used to say “money doesn’t grow on trees”.
Encourage your children to give to charity
As well as teaching children the value of money and how much things cost, I think a valuable lesson for them is to teach them the importance of giving money to charity.
My children often ask to give money to different charity groups we see in the shopping malls and while I love that they want to give money, often they are wanting to give my money and not their own.
If there is a cause my children want to donate money to, I encourage them to give some of their own money – even if it’s just a pound or even less. I think it’s a great value to teach your children from a young age to be givers to those less fortunate than themselves.
And there you have it my quick 5 ways to teach your kids about the value of money. Do you use any of these tips or have some other suggestions?
You can check out some of my other family tips – such as how I’m managing to homeschool and working from home and my work goals for 2020.
Suze is a stay at home mum who works on building her own business while making a side income from surveys.