I believe as parents you want to give all the best things in the world to your children. That is why you work so hard during weekdays, even doing overtime on weekends.
You want them to have a lot of toys, attending good schools, having higher education. It is not enough if you cannot give them holidays, presents and satisfactory pocket money.
What should be underlined is, do not you ever spoil your kids. Spoiling them now will only bring suffering to them in the future.
Teach your kids that money has to be earned and it is not just coming like Santa Claus putting Christmas presents for them. They cannot always get what they want, not because you do not love them.
Nowadays, a lot of parents are busy with their careers and businesses until there are not much time left for the kids. This fact make them feel guilty and they give too much pocket money, so the children can have fun with themselves.
I want you to see it as a problem in the future as:
You want them to have a lot of toys, attending good schools, having higher education. It is not enough if you cannot give them holidays, presents and satisfactory pocket money.
What should be underlined is, do not you ever spoil your kids. Spoiling them now will only bring suffering to them in the future.
Teach your kids that money has to be earned and it is not just coming like Santa Claus putting Christmas presents for them. They cannot always get what they want, not because you do not love them.
Nowadays, a lot of parents are busy with their careers and businesses until there are not much time left for the kids. This fact make them feel guilty and they give too much pocket money, so the children can have fun with themselves.
I want you to see it as a problem in the future as:
- You cannot always give them all the things they want all the time. When giving (spoiling) becomes a habit, it will be hard to teach your children about controlling their desires.
- You are maybe rich now, but can you guarantee for the rest of their life that they will always live in wealth? It will not be easy to change lifestyle extremely at once, and if you do not want to hurt your children, better you teach them a standard lifestyle that can make them survive during hard times.
- Your kids someday will have a family of their own. If you teach them wrong, the bad habits might be passed to them later.
It is important to teach your children how to survive (financially) when they are young.
Here for those reasons, I would like to give you some tips on what to teach kids about money:
- You can occasionally take them to your office and let them stay to see while you are working. Later you explain to them why you have to work. What is expected here not only their appreciation to their parents, but also their understanding about money matter.
Give them enough pocket money (enough value as needed by the average kids at their age).
- Teach them to make a budget, giving them the understandings they need to have their own savings to be useful in an emergency.
- Give them pocket money on daily basis as a starting point. After they manage it well, you can change into weekly basis and then to monthly basis. Let them learn how to stick to their budget. It is also important to train them to control their temptations to shop around when they have “some” money at once in their pocket.
- Give them a piggy bank for the first step. Later on when they have some deposits of their own, take them to your bank and open an account for them under their own name. Let them know that by saving money in the bank, they will get some interests. (you can teach them about administration fees and taxes later on)
- Offer your kids to help you with some housework to receive some extra pocket money. It also can bring self confidence to them that they can do something in the family.
- Do not give extra pocket money out of their schedule. When your kids are out of money and ask you to give them again, you should ask them about their journal, where did all the money go. After knowing what happened you can decide whether you are going to give them extra. You have to tell them when they make mistakes they have to be responsible. Maybe it is an idea that they have to use their savings instead of asking some extra pocket money.
- Do not teach them to owe you by offering them earlier payment of the following week pocket money. You should not teach them such a habit, but teach them how to live with what they have. They should be responsible for their mistakes and learn how to control their expenditures.
I am sure there are still other ideas you can figure out about teaching your kids the value of money.
It is very important to teach them some knowledge about money and let them learn to manage it.
Remember, action speaks louder than words. Try to be a good role model for your kids
