By teaching your child about money at an early age
you are doing
them a huge favor. You have
a better chance
of your
child being
a well-rounded and responsible appreciation of
the value and uses of
money if you begin
teaching them about money at an early age. Some
parents might not understand where or
how to begin teaching
their child about money so they dont start
this process until they
are older.
Start
by teaching your
children to identify
the different
coins. This
should be done at
the beginning when
the child is at
a very young age. When you are
out shopping with your
child you
can point out what money
is used
for and
pointing out
to them what is happening.
When your child gets
to the elementary
school age you might want to
think about
giving them an
allowance on
a weekly
basis. This
should be offered to each
child. At this point it is not
important how much the
allowance is. Start teaching what appropriate uses of this money might be and what
can happen
if they spend their money in an irresponsible way.
Now is
a good
time to express the importance of contributing part of their allowance to
a charity or a local church.
Teach your child why it is important to give to these organizations on a
regular basis. There
will come a time when your child
will want to buy a specific item and you need to
show them how many weeks they will need to
save their allowance to be able to make that purchase.
Take your child to the grocery
store with you to begin teaching your child the value of
careful money management. Have your child look at different brands of the same product so they can figure out what would be the best value.
If you
encourage your child to
help with chores around the house this will
help them learn a lot about money.
Push your child to
find ways to earn money.
Continue to give allowance to your children who are
now teenagers but it should now be connected with
household chores and other jobs they are obligated to complete.
In the late teenage years keep teaching your child about money by allowing your children to do the weekly grocery
shopping, let them help put together a budget
for a family vacations and teaching them how to fill out tax forms,
if they are employed. Show your older teenage children how to
obtain a small installment loan. This will help them learn the importance of a budget for regular financial responsibilities
as well as help build their line of credit.
Your child will be much
more prepared to be responsible with their money if you take the time now to teach your child how to manage their money.
Robert Michael is a writer for HB
Babies which is an
excellent place to find babies
links, resources and
articles. For more information go to:
http://www.hbbabies.com