Every parent has a hard time in trying to make their kids learn the value of money. Kids, not knowing of the troubles and consequences of reckless money, often throw temper tantrums if you do not buy them what they want. This develops more negative behaviors like anger, agitation, revolting, misbehaving, intolerance etc. in them.
Hence, it is important to make your child understand the importance of savings. Once your children learn how to save, they will learn how to be compassionate, obedient and tolerant toward their wants and desires.
I am by no means an expert when it comes to children but I believe the following tips will help you teach your child understand the saving concept.
Sometimes it is better to let your children have the power to spend (under your supervision.) If they do not understand the importance of savings, let them buy the first thing they see.
They will bring it home and for how much kids like to watch TV they will see an advertisement of a toy of their liking. Probably at a much higher price than the item they just bought and make them realize if they had saved the money, after a couple of weeks they could have bought that better toy.
Sometimes, you fail at saving money and avoiding debts. You act this way despite knowing the troubles that follow. And then your children are immune to such financial burden and they do not understand the value of the money at hand.
Teach them, through interactive and fun methods, how to differentiate between what is important and what is not. Teaching them the values of saving by showing them the harm of free-will spending is a good option.
• Make your child love the concept of the piggy bank. Children’s imaginations are great. If you introduce the piggy bank to them as a friend who will help them buy amazing toys if they donate the money in it will teach them the values of trust and patience.
• Give your children positive feedback and reward them every time they listen to you and save money. This behavior will instill in them a thought that if they are obedient and patient, they might just give you better respect.
• Teach your children how to give. Show them with how difficult the poor and orphan kids live. Instill in them the concept of giving; tell them that charity is a way to please God and that by donating they will be rewarded with amazing gifts.
Take them to charity events; make them meet the deprived children. They will automatically connect with them, sympathize and give them something from their own.
• Children are innocent but fast learners. They grasp behavior of the people around them, especially the ones who spend most time with them. Children will then start saying ‘I need this’ when they actually want a particular thing they don’t need.
This is because they hear us use the word need instead of want. There is a huge difference between the word the two. A need is a basic necessity without which you cannot survive or cannot fulfill a particular task.
A ‘want’ is a desire. When you say you want something, you actually want to quench the particular desire, a wish. You can survive without it though. You need to teach your children that necessities are more important than wants.
Once they learn how to compromise and adjust with what they can afford, they will grow tolerance toward their endless wants. You will then see a significant drop in the tantrums of your children and will see a rise in compassion and understanding.
• Make your kids realize the importance of money. Show them your electricity, gas, water and other bills. Let them know how much you spend on things that are necessary and how you suppress your own desires in order to fulfill the necessities.
Children are soft hearted. They will instantly grow a realization that you are providing so much for them and it is wise to save the money they get in order to meet their demands.
• Teach your children that credit card debt is bad. Form a resistance toward the credit card. Tell them credit card gives you the power to spend effortlessly on anything you instantly want. And this almost always leads to the accumulation of compound interest and a lot of debt.
If, at a very young age, you make your children immune to the vices of the credit card, you will succeed in teaching them responsibility about how to tackle money.
In Conclusion
I’m sure that if the above tips are followed correctly, your child will definitely learn the value of saving, obedience, tolerance, compassion and benevolence. You must always remember that even the tiniest of actions can inspire your children.
Channeling them in the right direction will make them responsible citizens and better human beings.
We have a set of piggy banks that are a baseball, football, soccer ball and backet ball, for saving, spending, investing and giving. Whenever he gets money he splits it among the 4 and says “one for saving, one for spending, one for giving…” (he’s still working on investing but he’s only two and a half, so I’m not complaining!). He also answers “to work” when anyone asks where the best place to go to get money, haha. A bit extreme?
As he gets older we’ll start with lessons. For now we just want to emphasize that money is for multiple purposes and comes from working.
Nick that is brilliant for a 2 year old! Knowing the importance of saving at a young age is absolutely necessary. It will also help him with the investing aspect as he grows and gets older.
Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job, and i give you props.
Too many young adults are falling heavily into debt and there is no better way to fix the problem other than teaching our kids how save at an early age.