Financial Responsibility: Six Ways to Help Your Kids Learn the Value of Money
Understanding the value of money is an important concept; the ability to budget, save, and use our finances in a wise way is one of the most important things we can teach our children and we can start them at a young age. Here are some ways you can teach your child the value of money.
Let Them Earn Their Own Money
Anyone will take the value of money more to heart when it is earned by their own hard work rather than freely given. Children can do things like starting a lemonade stand, selling clothes or toys at a yard sale, or asking you or neighbors for odd jobs. One of my friends told me some things she has taught her kids.
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Her daughter accidentally broke the iPhone she had receiver for Christmas. The daughter told me, “It was no use keeping a broken phone, so I sold my iPhone at SellShark.com. The child did not get rewarded for breaking her phone. Instead my friend had her daughter use the money to buy a replacement phone (which won’t be quite as nice as the iPhone).
Clip Coupons
This is a good activity that even the younger children can help out with. Get them to help you cut out coupons that you will use, and bring them with you to the store to be the “Coupon Keepers” as you demonstrate how they work. Explain to them how to keep track of the savings, and when to know when a sale is good for your family or not.
Shop at a Farmer’s Market
Taking them to this in-between place can be an educational trip, letting the kids see how the food you buy already packaged and prepared in the store has to be grown by the farmers. As they help you pick out produce and other foods, they’ll be able to see the economical connections that go on behind the scenes.
Include Them in Bill Paying
The paying of the bills is usually something only the parents really understand. However, you can teach your kids about bills by having them help you. Have your child help you write numbers, put stamps on envelopes and mail the letters. Having your child help you provides an opportunity for your child to learn a little more about how money and bills work.
Go to a Yard Sale/Thrift Store
At either of these places, your child will be able to find items for their enjoyment at very low prices. Each new store or yard is an adventure, as you never know what you will find, and shopping at cheap locations will show how much money can be saved or stretched by buying inexpensive items.
7 ways to teach your kids about money
Visit the Bank
It may seem like a boring place for a child, but letting them see transaction of money can be educational and important, and you can give the younger ones the job of handing money to the teller. For older children, consider opening an account for them so they can put away money they earn for savings.
As your children follow your example and learn from you about how money works and why it is important, there are many different ways they can demonstrate that wisdom in their own lives as they grow older.
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Category: Family Finances
