Teaching Our Children The Importance Of Money

I’m a dad of eleven year old twin girls and from a very early age as parents we have always tried to teach them the importance of money and why, as they get older, that if they want to buy something then they need to do a chore to earn money and once they have earned some money then it’s important to save up until they have enough money to buy what they want. All of this early teaching about money as they grow up will mean that hopefully they will be financially capable as adults.

According to the 2022-2023 Young Person’s Money Index by The London Institute of Banking and Finance, 82% of young people want to learn more about money and finance in school. School is definitely the starting point and more needs to be done in school to teach our children about money.

It was also noted that 85% of 17-18 year olds admitted that they worry about money this highlights the importance of teaching children at a young age about money.

Money Plus Advice have written this brilliant article that goes into more detail about the research which you can read by clicking here.

Of course, it’s important when teaching children about money, especially if they are young, that it’s done in a fun and interesting way. Here are a couple of examples of how you can teach your kids about money in a fun way.

1. Saving money in a jar or piggy bank

This is probably the simplest and easiest way to save money and to create a piggy bank which can be made from absolutely anything. You could use a jam jar, plastic bottle or in fact any container. You can get them to decorate it to make it very personal to them, it’s also a great way to get them to be creative.

2. Doing chores

Doing chores is a fantastic way for children to learn that if you want money you have to do something for it.

Get your children to do chores around the home such as cleaning, gardening, in fact anything, as long as it’s age appropriate. This will teach them that a reward is there if they do something for it. It will also give them a feeling of accomplishment that they’ve earned some money instead of just being given it.

There are of course many ways that as parents we can teach our children how to manage money such as including them in family budget decisions or playing games that involve money.

Early teaching about money with children is very important so that they will grow up to handle money as adults, as well as leading by example because children will see how you handle money and learn from that.