Parenting is not an easy feat. Just giving birth and handling your baby with care is not the only thing that matters.
Most parents wait for their children to be grown-ups to teach them the value of money. And that’s where the trouble begins. They lack the basic understanding; they have witnessed you spending on them and fulfilling their wishes all of their childhood.
They are not exposed to the realities of life – how you are making ends meet, what you’ve been doing to earn money for their little dolls or toy cars.
You wish to provide all the best stuff to your children – branded shoes, the latest shirts, famous toys. But in doing so, you are ignoring the precious lesson to teach your children, maybe because you haven’t paid much attention to it yourself while being consumed in competition with the world around you.
Albert Einstein once stated, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Ask yourself… How long are you able to afford their expensive wishes? How are they going to fulfil them independently and if they couldn’t what emotional impact will it create?
Your goal
The world is a crazy place. Although it has a lot to offer, it’s undeniable that everything revolves around money. Though money can’t buy happiness, it gets you things that brings happiness to you. To make things work out you need to begin making effort. Here is a list of goals you can follow:
- Teach Them To Save Money
- Explain The Concept To Earn
- Teach Them To Value The Things They Have
- Guide Them On Evaluating Their Buying Decisions
- Make Them Understand The Reality
- Teach Them About The Concept Of Long Term Investment
Teach them to save money
First things first, teach your children how and why it is important to save money. When my child was just 4 years old, I gave him a money box. He thought it’s just another toy but I showed him how to use it the right way.
Parents set examples for their children. I showed him my savings account and he was fascinated to check the digits it holds (well for him it was just some random digits). At that moment, he was encouraged to save money in his box. Jiggling the coins all around the house, he began collecting them from wherever he found them. He even started asking others to help him fill up the box. It was then I started teaching him about the importance of work and the concept of earning.
Every parent wants to fulfil their children’s desires, they want their child to wear the best branded clothes. It’s not possible for each parent to spend a lot on shopping and buy the top store’s clothes but discounts make it possible. Australian coupons are available on a lot of categories. It will help you to make savings.
Explain the concept to earn
Communication is the key. Be open with your children. Don’t hide all of your struggles from them. It’s not about making them sit at the time of budgeting of course, but at least let them know how much effort you are putting in. Sometimes you get tired but still continue to work with passion and sincerity.
The second step is to allow your children to pick any small job they can do to earn at home. Indulge them in washing dishes, cleaning up the house, decluttering their wardroom. Give them rewards not always in the form of money. They should know that not every reward is in the form of cash.
Teach them to value the things they have
Back in our childhood, we used to make handmade cards on birthdays which eventually got replaced with ecards. No matter how fancy ecards are, handmade presents stir a richness of emotions.
Teach your children to value the things that they have – it could be any toy! They should know how the things that they thought were outdated can turn into something so valuable.
Guide them on evaluating their buying decisions
Avoid impulse buying and make your kid evaluate their buying decisions. Make them compare their options like “if you get these toy cars, you may not be able to buy the building blocks you’ve been saving for.”
Make them evaluate the long term benefits. For instance, “if you buy the toy cars, you will miss out on this pair of shoes to play basketball with your friends.”
Make them understand the reality
You may not get everything you wish for, it’s true and you have to learn to accept it. Children know that by crying they can get anything from their parents but it won’t work all their life. You need to teach your child to let go of things and to understand the reality. You should teach them self-control and how not to over-attached their sentiments with materialistic things.
Teach them about the concept of long term investment
You can teach many valuable lessons to your children by reading them stories. For instance, The Little Red Hen by Mary Mapes Dodge gives an inspiring pearl of the lesson. The story revolves around a hen who invested time and effort to make a loaf of bread even though she experienced demotivation and distraction. But her determined efforts paid her off.
Your child should know the value of time and effort. They should learn that through the right efforts they can get benefits in the long run. It will teach him to be patient and consistent.
To wrap up…
Remember there is no right time to teach, the time is now. Slow but steady, continue making efforts to teach your children the right things to value. They will follow in your footsteps, so make sure to set good examples for them. Lastly, give them an opportunity to make decisions and face the consequences.