subject: Why Teaching Children About Money Is So Important [print this page] There is a large proportion of society, just like myself, who grew up in a family under welfare. We lived in government subsidized housing estate wheremost people in the immediate community were unemployed or blue collar workers. As you can probably guess, financial education for kids was not existent in my childhood. I still remember my economic teacher in high school telling us that more than 80% of us will end up like our parents... trapped under the poverty line. Well, at the beginning, I didn't want to believe it but after finishing high school andonly about 10 people in our year making it touniversity and it was not hard to see history repeating itself.
In my early 20s I met a neighbor of mine who described to me that her sister is on-par with living the life her mum had once lived. She is a single mum with 2 kids to different fathers and is dependent on welfare.
All those dreams of breaking out of the poverty trap seems to me like every kids goal in our society back then, but obviously it wasn't a dream for many. As you can see financial education for kids didn't even cross our minds back then.
Your reading this article because you have a desire to dream beyond your pass and also teaching children about money is on the top of your to-do list. Congratulations on making an important decision to step out of the poverty trap and help your child also! Remembering my friend's sister's situation I thinkit was the simple goal that she set "to be able to have the life her mum gave her was good enough for her". We have to know that being satisfied with what we are given is a great learning experience but it's not what will drive us to succeed and achieve potential that is easily achieved if we put our mind to it.
Teaching kids about money should encourage us to enrich our lives and review our daily routine and how we thing about things in regards to money.
To live above the poverty line requires us to:
1. Teaching money to children by changing mindsets
Just because you come from a poor family does not mean you need to stay there forever. Confess "I am not poor" repeatedly to yourselfdaily so you start believing it, is a powerful mind exercise that can build confidence and vision for your life. Repeating the words "we are poor" to your children and yourself will only tell them exactly that. Teaching kids about money requires time and hard work on our part but those words "we are poor" only breed negativity to your child. If they ask for something you can't afford at the moment, say "You can have that later when ________" it could be birthday, Christmas, after you get your pay rise, after they have saved enough from their pocket money. This always gives them time to learn if what they wanted was an impulse buy or something they really want.
2. Teach a Kids Budget wisely
Create goals for yourself and your children that you will not live beyond your means. If you set this example, your kids will be able to see it. This will educate them in regards to a kids budget. Make sure your practice what you preach so your kids can clearly see it. There are so many families all in big debt, credit being so readily available we need to be very wise with our money. Kids think that credit cards can be used on evertying. I have heard children answer back "just put it on the card mum" when their parent said "I don't have any cash on me". We need to be wise when we do use a credit card that we always pay it off in full when it's due. We need to explain to our children that the plastic card does come with a statement at the end of the month and mum & dad need to pay it off with our savings. If you do not show kids the complete picture, they will be distorted from the truth and this will limit their understanding of money to an unhealthy state of free spending. You could create a kids budget so they can be wise with their money. Budgeting for kids is a crucial topic when teaching money to children.
3. Be Creative when teaching children about money
Look at ways to make the most of your situation. If you want to take them on a holiday but you just can't afford it right now, why not go camping in your back yard? Spring clean and see what is no longer needed and see if you can host a garage sale or sell it on e-bay for extra cash. Offer your services to your neighbors in the community. Gardening and housecleaning are always sought after if the right person and price is offered. If you are a great cook or baker you may offer that service. Many families work long hours and are not prepared to make healthy nutritional food, it might be worth offering your service to them. Do you have a green thumb? Plant your own vegetable garden will not only save you money at grocers but you can also sell your excess. Tomato off the vine is much sweeter than those at the shops. What you do are doing here is teaching kids about money by demonstrating how to be creative.
4. A Second job
These days, if you need to meet the cost of living, you will need to look for a second job. Look for casual or part time work that can assist with paying the bill. The financial education for kids is showing them that you need to take extra measures sometimes in times of need.
5. Second-hand items or shops
We live in a materialistic world so people just buy for the sake of buying. Make sure you do some research because making your next purchase of an item. A lot of second hand clothing stores stock a lot of clothes that have never been worn before for a fraction of the price of brand new. Go to websites like eBay or look out for the old fashion garage sale. Talk to your friends when you are just about to purchase something. Teaching children about money is about thinking of different ways to purchase an item.
