Teaching your kids the value of money is an incredibly important life lesson. They need to be able to understand currency, and just what place it has in our society, and what they can do to either preserve or earn more of it.
But sometimes just explaining this to them gets you nowhere! You need something a bit more practical that shows them exactly why money makes the world go round. As such, here are some ideas for demonstrating just how money works and why they need to look after their pennies.
Explain a Budget Spreadsheet
Get your budget spreadsheet out and get the kids to sit down with you. Lay it out on the table and then ask them what they think it is. Get them to pipe up with answers and work with these – as soon as they see money signs, they’re likely to know this is what mommy and daddy get to spend!
Once they’re interested, tell them about the ways you like to save. Talk about the ways costs can vary from month to month and what that means for the budget. You don’t have to go into minute detail here, of course, but you can show the kids with their own eyes how far money goes in your household.
Donate to Charity with Them
Charity is one of the most noble causes in the world – there’s no doubt about that. And seeing as charities need monetary donations more than anything else, why not take your kids down to a drive with you? Handing out Charitable Donations and encouraging them to do the same can help you to put a valuable picture in front of them.
You can easily show them just how far even $10 can go to help someone in need. If they’ve got pocket money they can choose to donate as much as they like, or if you want this to be a pure and simple lesson, hand out a small bit of cash and ask them who they want to give it to.
Put Your Foot Down Over Their Allowance
And finally, if your child has an allowance each week or month, make sure they know it’s gone when it’s gone! If they want something, they have to save. If they can’t afford something, it’s simply because they spent their money earlier.
Try not to budge on this fact – it’s easy to give into their big eyes and pleading faces, but this is often the best way to demonstrate the cause and effect of misusing money! But if they get very sad or feel like crying over the matter, remind them that it’s not a disaster. If they truly want something, they can still save for it.
If you want your children to know what money means, get visual! They need to be a bit more hands-on with the pennies you hand out as allowance and see just how far even just a few coins can take them.
Beth
June 28, 2022These are all such great ideas. Teaching our kids about money is great, but showing them those lessons in the real world is key.
Bryan
June 28, 2022I have talked to my kids about charity and shown them the budget spreadsheet I use. I think where I need to do more is to place limits on their credit card usage. My girls are a little spoiled.
Monica Simpson
June 28, 2022This is very important for sure! We’ve started teaching our kids more about saving lately.
briannemanzb
June 28, 2022Donating to a charity with them is great advice. Showing them the importance of it is better than just talking about it.
Sabrina C
June 29, 2022There are quite a few home educating based things they can make based on money as well, it helps them utilise STEM and maths skills and it’s a great way to bring math into real-life practice. Like a homemade money pachinko machine for chores or savings etc.
Mosaic Art
June 29, 2022I love all these practical ways to instill a sense of responsibility and the value of money in kids. Explaining them the budget sheet is brilliant…
Rose Ann Sales
June 29, 2022This is a really great and very helpful post! These are all really great and amazing ideas! Specially donating to charity with them.
Ivan Carlo Jose
June 29, 2022I’m an advocate of teaching kids the value of money and saving. I found your post to be really insightful with it comes to that topic.
Neely Moldovan
June 29, 2022This is so timely! We really want to start doing this.
Ntensibe Edgar
June 29, 2022Yyyyooooo….you’re so right, with explaining to them what a budget and expenses spreadsheet is. These past few weeks, I’m actively using it and you can’t believe how much money I’m actually saving.
May
June 29, 2022My kids learned about the value of earning their own money very early in life. They were fortunate to have projects that paid them well, so what we did was introduce them to savings, mutual funds, and yes, helping those who are less fortunate.
Amber Solis
June 29, 2022I have never thought to share the spreadsheets or things that we adults use. Just assumed they wouldn’t understand but what better way to help them understand than to introduce them to it at a younger age.
Krystle
June 29, 2022This is so important to do when they’re young. I love the charity idea.
Lyosha
June 30, 2022That’s a great post! my daughter is too little to do it with her but I will remember it for when she is older. Charity and budgeting is great. Sometimes when parents introduce kids to money they overstimulate and kids start to be scared because things are expensive and such so they never ask anything because they have a feeling they will hurt their parents with money. it is often not understood by parents because after all it is very useful, not to spend more money on kids’ wishes apart from obligatory “gifts”. It poses a thread for an adult who might be spurging all the time, or binge buying or on the contrary never willing to buy to buy anything before it is absolutely nesessary which is not healthy as well
Anosa Malanga
July 5, 2022This is indeed a good read. I am into financial literacy so I really love to see write-ups like this. Indeed worth sharing!