When was the first time your child asked for his/her pocket money ? How much did you pass on to him ?
In today’s world of earn-all-spend-all attitude of youngsters, the kids lay their hands on too much money too fast for them to digest. This way, saving and investing is something that a child will not learn by himself.
Its imperative that parents teach your kids how to manage their money, and that does not have to start when they are 15 ! Following are some of the ways on how to teach your child about money management.
1. Get him/her a piggy bank
To start with, get your child a piggy bank. Explain to the child what it means. Then for every good gesture the child exhibits, fill up the piggy bank with coins and rupees – be careful with this one though, you should not exhibit that there’s a free buck for every good act !.
Explain to the kid that the piggy bank will fill up and become a sum that can buy her/his favourite dress or toy. This way, you would have inculcated money saving habits in your child.
2. Tell him/her to save his pocket money
Of the amount that you give your child each month, teach her to spend some and save some. With the saved money, go buy a small gift for her. This will demonstrate to her that saving could be used for purchasing something bigger and better in the future.
Then ask her to save for that beautiful bicycle she wants. Same as point 1, albeit a bit different.
3. Take your child for a bank trip
She will not fancy this much I am sure, but take her to the nearest bank to show her around the place. Drop a cheque, withdraw money from the ATM, deposit cash at the teller and meet-and-greet known faces. Your child will understand the nuances around her and get to know the look and feel of the bank.
You will be surprised as to how much children learn by observing.
4. Get your child involved in small financial dealings
Requesting your child to fetch the cheque book or the account statement book helps her identify which is what. Fuel her curiosity by giving her a hundred rupee note and asking her to fetch items from the grocery store. Let her make mistakes.
Managing money cannot be learnt overnight, its with these small baby steps that your child will learn the importance of money.
5. Play a money game
How about Monopoly!! This could be a great way to teach children to count money and take decisions. Board money games could be interesting, especially if there is a buy and sell of items involved.
More fun when the entire family is involved.
6. Open an online account
This is a must when the child becomes capable of managing net based transactions easily. She can see her account savings and how the money grows and reduces via credits and debits.
She can apply her first grade mathematics to add and subtract to cross check the account balance. A perfect way to let her feel closer to her account and learn at the same time.
Try these and ascertain the financial bent of your child.
