As a father, do you bother to know if your children will know how to save money? Who will teach them to budget? And how they will manage their money when you are not doing it for them?
Your worries are valid but you must take steps to educate them about money. This is because children learn about money and how to handle it, albeit wisely or not, from watching and listening to their parents.
Children observe the choices of their parents regarding budgeting. They internalize their parents’ attitudes about money. This raises some very important issues such as how parents can help their children develop healthy habits around money; how to encourage them to feel financially empowered as well as how to ensure they won’t go into debts that will derail their financial future.
The first step towards helping your kid understand how to manage money begins with chatting with them about it. Children love to hear about their parents’ money mistakes. It makes them know that it’s okay to be less than pefect.
It’s vital for fathers to teach their kids that money doesn’t grow on trees. Enlist their help around the house. Whether it is making their beds, brushing their teeth, cleaning up their toys, washing their clothes and taking out the trash, you can teach them that if they complete the duties they are assigned, they will earn a commission. They should be taught that if they want money to buy things, they must earn it.
Buy them their own piggy bank. Teach them how to save for rainy days. It might seem boring to them, but as their father who knows better, you have to spend time teaching them the importance of saving.
If your child heads off to the University with little knowledge of what it means to save, they will be in a world of hurt and worse yet, a world of debt that could ruin them. Have them put their commission in a piggy bank. Better yet, make sure it’s a clear piggy bank so they can see their money growing.
You have to teach them how you earn money and use it. You can talk to them about how mom and dad work hard to earn money so they can turn it around and use it to pay for food, home, clothes, and car. These lessons can make the virtual world of commerce a little more real.
Teach your children to plan for big goals. When they start asking for expensive things, as kids tend to do, encourage them to draw a picture of what they want and consider ways the family could save to make that goal possible. Explain how you are making sacrifices to put money toward their future education instead of spending everything on their immediate pleasurable needs.
Let your kids overhear you calling a company to ask for a refund or to demand better service. Help your kids practice asking for more money, perhaps for their allowance, so they can learn the right words to use and get comfortable with the concept of negotiation before they get their first salary offer.
