Ever wonder how to start teaching your kids about money? You’re in luck. Today’s contributed post is all about how to teach your children about money starting today. Enjoy!
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As parents, we always want the best for our children. We want them to be happy and healthy, and we want them to have everything that their hearts desire. But sometimes, the need to keep them happy can lead us to spoil them.
We may not even realize that we’re doing it at the time, but if you ever find yourself getting them things that they want to make them happy, or trying to give them a nice life, they’re effectively being spoiled. That’s not always a bad thing. But it can be if they don’t value money. If your children begin to expect things, then they don’t understand the value of money. And when it comes to raising well-rounded teenagers and young adults, it’s so important that they understand that.
So, how do you go about it? How do you make sure that your children understand the value of money? Well, you have to teach them. It’s just like anything else, you have to make sure that you’re preparing them for adulthood.
Children don’t just know how to grow up. You need to lead them. And you have to do this with money too. But it’s not always easy to know how you’re going to do this. And it can be tough. You sometimes have to be persistent and show tough love.
Some kids will just get it, but others might not (particularly if they are a little spoiled already). So let’s see how you can make this work.
Talk About Money
So the first thing you can do here is talk about money openly. If you’re someone that never talks about it, then you’re not encouraging a healthy relationship with money among your children. You may even give off the impression that it’s something secretive. Plus, if you want them to understand that things cost, you have to teach them that. Be open about your expenses and what things cost in life. It’s important for them to know that living in a home or eating food or doing things you like in life costs.
Say No
At the same time, you’re going to want to be an assertive parent where you can. It’s important that your children don’t get everything they want, when they want it. If they’re always buying things for them, how are they supposed to learn the value of money? They’ll just think that money grows on trees and that they can spend it whenever they want to! So, saying no is really important here.
Get Them To Do Chores
This point is really important. And while not every parent will agree with it, because some will believe that children should be children, it is important to instill a work ethic in your children. Chores can help with that. We all have to work for what we want and work to create our lives, so starting your children doing their chores early or earning money for doing it is a good idea.
Get Them To Work For What They Want
So sometimes (or, in fact, a lot of the time) your children will want things. And if you don’t want to say no, then why not ask them to work for it? Kids can earn money in a range of different ways. You could ensure that they get the thing that they really want by earning it. This is a great way to prepare them for adulthood and to develop a good attitude to money, because it’s what they will need to do as an adult.
Talk To Them About Work Or Business
Another great idea is to talk openly about your job or your business. While you may not want to go into too much detail on the financial side of things or of any problems, it’s good to talk about work and what jobs or business is like. This will then get them thinking about hard work and what they might to do when they grow up.
Encourage Their Interests
From here, you’ll then want to make sure that you’re focusing on their interests as much as possible. Because you may find that they may take them somewhere later on in life. See what kind of things that your children are good at, and if they may be interested in taking that on as a career.
Talk About Their Futures
At the same time, you should openly talk about their futures too. Maybe not so seriously when they’re in pre-school, but a little more in middle-school and definitely when they’re in high school. It’s important to get them thinking about what they might want to do to support themselves and earn money.
Make Sure They Work
And, a no-brainer is always going to be to make sure they get a job. As soon as they’re of an age to start working part-time, it’s a good idea to encourage it. Yes, you want them to focus on their studies, but working can give them incredible skills and not just money or an understanding of it.
Make Sure They Understand Consequences
A lot of the time, your children may not really understand that the consequences of their actions can be costly. This is why it’s so important to not only teach them right from wrong, but the value of money too. If they break something, they should replace it – just like in the real world. If they are in trouble, yes there are options like Kat Bail Bonds, but should you be the one to arrange that, or them? While you may want to run to their aid every chance you get, what is that teaching them? It’s best to teach them consequences of their actions early on to avoid bigger problems later on in life.
Inspire Them
Finally, you’re going to want to inspire them. If you want the world for your children, then show them that they can have it. It’s so important to motivate your child. Because they really can do and have anything that they want – but they have to work for it. They need to want to do it for themselves. So you’re going to want to focus on inspiring them to want the best for themselves, to earn their way, and to build a life for themselves. After all, isn’t that all any parent could ever want?
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