Lessons About Money You Should Be Teaching Your Children

Summer is the perfect time to teach your children how to handle money. Your children would often see you get money from your wallets, pocket or purse. They would also see you get a card from your wallet when you pay for something or would see a machine that would give you all the money, which is called an ATM. Since they are kids, they obviously don’t understand that people cannot simply get money from a machine or that the money just magically appears in the wallet.

They still don’t know the fact that money should be earned. This summer, it is time for you to teach your children that money doesn’t grow on trees, that money must be earned and there are different ways to earn money and that most of the time, certain skills are needed. It may be a little too complicated for them so here are a couple of tips and tricks to help you teach them when it comes to earning money.

[su_quote cite=”Unknown” class=”cust-pagination”] “Do not educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy, so when they grow up, they’ll know the value of things, not the price.”[/su_quote]

EXPLAIN HOW IT WORKS

• The easiest way to teach your kids about money is to let them know their parents’ jobs are. If you’re a doctor, teacher, office worker, etc. explain it to them in a detailed but at the same time the simplest manner. For instance, let them know why children go to school, and that when they’re done with school, as adults they will go to a special school where they will be able to enhance certain skills and talents that they have or are passionate about. Another way is to let your child know what exactly you do for work and why you’re working. Let them know that grown-ups have to work so that they could earn money, and people have different works.

• Kids would then think that money is meant to be spent and that they could always get what they want if there is money, which is totally wrong. Let your kids know the importance of saving, spending, and sharing, in the simplest way you can. Like the fact that money is indeed earned but that doesn’t mean it should be spent, some of it must be saved in a safe place in case the money is needed for something important, you could teach them to save up for their most wanted toy for starters.

GIVE THEM ALLOWANCE

When your kids start primary school, it is the perfect time for them to have an allowance. Let your children know that allowances are given by adults to children who goes to school because kids are not old enough to work for their own money yet, and that is what parents are for. Let them know that these allowances must be spent on necessary things, which are things that they need, not just for treats and such. Also, they could save it for something they really want. It would allow them to learn how to manage money on their own.

HOUSEHOLD CHORES = MONEY…but NOT all the time

Once they have grown up a bit and they can now manage to understand that money should be earned, you could make them help out a bit when it comes to household chores. Keep in mind that you should only give them extra money for doing household chores that they’re not expected to do. Chores like cleaning their own rooms, doing their beds, cleaning up after themselves, are not included since it is their duty to do them, and it will teach them to be responsible as well.

KIDS BUSINESS

This summer, you could teach your children how to earn money by doing some business, like selling some lemonades on the front porch of the house or at the corner of the street. It will make them understand how exactly it is like to have a business, make sure you guide them at all times though so that they wouldn’t be confused since they’re handling money now and their mathematical skills will be enhanced, which is totally amazing. Learning and earning during the summer is way too fun for both kids and parents.