With parenting comes great responsibilities! Being a parent you have to be very careful and alert about each and everything your children are doing and learning. And being a parent, everyone wants to give the best to their child, whether it be knowledge, manners or education. But unknowingly many of us fail at one important thing and that is- giving them knowledge about Money.
Most of the parents are happy to talk to their kids just about anything, but other than money. However, there are plenty of good reasons why they should know about money at a young age.
Kids are never too young to learn about money! But a common mentality persisting from decades among all the parents is that- the money matters should not be discussed in front of children, they should not know anything about the household finances. Money matters or financial topics are considered equivalent to the topics such as- sex and drugs, which should not be discussed among children. But this is totally a wrong perception which needs to be changed. Almost all the parents don’t teach their kids the importance of money, how much effort it takes to earn it and how much their parents are earning, they will not realize the importance of it. And then in their teens when the kids start demanding to buy expensive mobile, cloths, PlayStation etc., their demands are rejected citing the money involved. Do you think it is going to work at that time? Do you think they are going to understand your point? The answer is definitely NO! It’s just your over expectation from your child, that’s it! How do you expect them to understand these money matters, which took you many life experiences to understand, while you kept all these hidden from them since their birth? If you want your children to know the value of money, you should start giving them lessons about it from a young age itself.
It’s a fact that if kids develop good financial skills from a young age they’ll be ready for the financial challenges of future and adulthood in a better way.
Good financial skill is something which is not even taught in schools. In school, they are given education, not the life lessons! Being a parent how you think giving good moral education is your responsibility, in the same way, giving good financial skills to your child is your responsibility only.
You can start with basic maths which includes finances such as-
Ram had ₹10, he spent ₹5 for his household thing, ₹ 2 for vacation, and then how much is left?
Next, you can go with the importance of money, how much difficult it is to earn it, the importance of savings, overspending is a bad thing and so on.
Later you can move on to things like:
- Initiate Goal Setting Skills
- Teach your child to Spend Smarter
- Provide them tips to spend wisely
- Explain to them the fundamentals of saving
- Keep a track on their Spending, in case if you are giving them pocket money.
- Encourage them for returning, when borrowed anything.
- Introduce the Value of a Practical Skill
- Teach them the basics of investment
Money lessons at a young age set the tone for the future. But you really can’t start too early when they can’t understand anything at all. Start with the basics at the right age. Give them in little chunks, not in bulk. Try different practical ways and make it interesting for them. Let us take the example of a family in which the parents have kept their children away from money matters. When they go to a mall, and if their child says that he/she wants something, and the parents deny saying ‘they don’t have enough money’, the child will never understand this and will resort to tantrums to buy a stuff of their choice. Kids learn quickly and you just need to teach them in a proper way at the right time.
Parents must try to encourage interests in teens for saving as well as how to multiply the savings. The preliminary knowledge about banks can be initiated right from the children’s personal saving accounts in banks. This step helps children to understand how every penny saved by them can actually multiply with the developing interest in savings further. Gradually parents can enlighten their little buds about the insurance policies helpful for their own future.
Beyond the doubts, parents know the best for their children but sometimes they too need some expert advice to deal with complicated situations. Hence, the proper follow up of guidelines may help parents and their children to meet the common goal. Parents need to learn too that instead of uttering phrases like “money does not grow on trees,” or “I am not an ATM machine.” They must focus on teaching the importance of money and its savings without harming the young and delicate hearts. Remember your kids are never too young to learn about money!
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