Educating my children on money

shiningfaery · 19 December 2016 at 7:44AM

Hi

Quick back story, I am a single mum with 2 beautiful kids aged 6 and 3. Ex is not money conseus or responsible.

So my 6 year old has got to a stage where she wants everything but no thought on cost of course as money means nothing to her other than it can buy things, I want to start educating her on money and over time being responsible with it.
Don't know where to start and don't want to negative about money or spending.

What have you done that's worked? Any suggestions on where to start?

Savvy_Sue · 19 December 2016 at 1:41PM

Well, at 6 there's always pocket money. Is there something she likes every week, like a comic? Can you afford for her to have it every week, plus a little bit more? Does she also like little toys etc? A little purse or moneybox for Christmas, every week I will give you 60p (sorry I have no idea how much comics cost these days!) so you can buy your comic. But if you decide to spend that money on toys you will not get your comic. You will have 10p you can save after buying your comic. And so on.

But you have to be firm, and be fair to the little one too.

Mine could also 'earn' extra money by being 'above and beyond' helpful, eg they didn't get paid for laying the table, but if they helped sorting everyone's clothes and put their own away promptly that was better than me having to do it.

DigForVictory · 19 December 2016 at 3:54PM

+1 for pocket money.

If that is frankly risible, you can always teach her Monopoly - you have to have money to buy houses & charge rent after all.

You could have a "play shop" where she sells sweets or toys to her little sibling, using tokens? You can always act as her Wholesaler & teach her the delights of mark-ups & trade credit if you're really feeling strong. I really do urge you to discourage estimating relative's creditworthiness aloud - it can lead to ill feeling. (Please do not ask how I know!)

Whatever you do, you will be teaching useful things to know in later years, so well done starting young & keep an eye on the freebies board for rewards you don't have to pay for?!

MallyGirl · 19 December 2016 at 4:44PM

it is best to start early but I found that pocket money wasn't really that well understood till a bit older.
The biggest change for me was when we linked my DD's debit card to her Amazon account instead of me buying everything. I had always encouraged reading and would never stint on book buying but now that she is using her own money she has got much better at finding free ones that she fancies - there was no driver to do this when it was my money. She also stopped buying the magazine that she was desparate for every month once she realised the dent it made in her monthly allowance.
Pocket money is sent to her bank account via standing order so there is no chance for it to burn a hole in her pocket. Again this is for an older child

Mojisola · 19 December 2016 at 5:01PM

shiningfaery wrote: »

So my 6 year old has got to a stage where she wants everything but no thought on cost of course as money means nothing to her other than it can buy things, I want to start educating her on money and over time being responsible with it.

Pocket money and having to make (and live with) her own decisions whether to buy this or that would help.

It can be hard for little ones to understand that you have to do something in order to earn money and that it just doesn't come out of the hole in the wall when you want to buy something.

We sometimes used the idea that Mum or Dad would have to work for X hours to earn enough money to pay for the requested item when it was something expensive.

meer53 · 19 December 2016 at 9:30PM

6 is too young to understand really. The only way to teach kids about money is to say no. I've been on my own since my daughter was 2, Daddy has always bought her everything she asked for (but didn't need) but i wasn't able to do that so i just said no and explained why i couldn't buy things for her. It was difficult for a couple of years but she got it eventually. She got a debit card when she was 11 but even then it didn't sink in, it's only the last couple of years (she's 16 now) when she started to get into clothes and make up that she's realised that no savings means no stuff ! She's had a part time job since June this year, she's brilliant at budgeting now ! If you can't say no, you're in for trouble later.

shiningfaery · 19 December 2016 at 9:47PM

Thanks for all your suggestions. I have looked at pocket money, my youngest still thinks putting money in his piggy banks a game so a while yet for him....But with my eldest she's been asking questions regarding me working and why I have to.
I think mentally she's at a good point to introduce money a bit more seriously.
Think we will be needing something for her to collect her money in that's then removable. Glass jars from recycling should do the trick......

TBagpuss · 20 December 2016 at 12:13PM

Pocket money, and being firm and honest. If she asks for something which you can't afford, tellher you can't afford it. Explain it to her in terms of her pocket money "If you want that, you'd need to save up all of your pocket money for 5 /10/week / a whole year"

However, the biggest way that children learn is by example. So think about your own spending and how you talk about it to your children.

This can be as simple as a passing reference to things you'd like but can't afford. I remember when about 6 or 7 wanting some expensive toy and telling my parents that [friend] had one. My mum expalined that may friend's parents had more mney, and mentioned that friend was an only child whereas I had 2 siblings, and that friend's mum and dad both went to work when she was at school but in our house, only dad went to work becaue she was looking fter the littler childrem. It made sense, and was something a child of that age could understand.

We also had pocket money every week, and if we asked for something the normal response would be "How much pocket money have you got left / got saved?"

Ocassionally we would get something extra but it was always very much down to my parents deciding that we could have something, not as a response to demands or requestss on our part.

As we got older (about 11) we switched from pocket money to a clothing allowancve, which we got once every three months and which had to cover eveything except school uniforms, school shoes and a winter coat, which again, was a really good way to teach budgeting and financial planning, and which meant we really did appreciate it when we did get an unexpected extra.

mumblecrumble · 30 December 2016 at 9:22AM

Agree with leading by example (at least doing your best too heehee). Talking about money lots seems to help out daughter. I'm unable to work as just become disabled. I refer to where Dad is lots. I explain that since us waking up till tea time it takes Dad to earn X amount of money. And that that money must go on having a house, food, being warm etc first..... Then we can have treats (simplified for my daughter!)

So, I tell her..... The trick is to spend as little as possible on what we need (e. G. Turning lights off, not wasting food, mending things, cleaning things, and buying second hand) and making our treats as cheap as possible.

When ever we shop I tell her what I am thinking. She is good at treats maths....
E. G. In home bargains she could get 10 Galaxy bars for £2 or a £1 Cadbury bar that broke into 8 treats worth. I helped her work it out. Usually she chooses the cheaper but if she really wants the more expensive she can, it just lasts less time....

Recently she started getting £1 pocket money most Fridays. She can buy chocolate on her way home.... She has asked if I can meet her to go to Heron foods so instead of buying 1 bar for 60p at corner shop she can get 6 lots for £1 and have one (they're small!) after tea each day. I was so chuffed!

Hoping to get a bank account for her soon and I Recognise that burning hole in pocket thing. I'll hurry up as Grandparents like to give her a bit and it would be good for her to see saving growing, interest etc.

I love the idea of shop and wholesaler teacher mark ups etc... Nice one

She is quite good I think at understanding money for her age (now 9).

Lunar_Eclipse · 30 December 2016 at 11:21AM

Another vote for pocket money. We started when DD1 was 5 so if she asked 'can I please have this?' when we were out, I would ask her if she could afford it. I never funded comics or toys from then on, but you do need to decide how much you can afford to give and then how much you'd like her to have, eg do you want her to be able to afford a comic and a packet of sweets every week or once a month etc? 50p/week won't even buy a packet of starbursts ... I'd be thinking along the £2.50/3 a week lines personally.

We've been doing this for almost 12 years now and it's worked brilliantly.

CrawleyGirl · 2 January 2017 at 10:28PM

I'm a single Mum to an 8 and 6 year old. Since their Dad left I've been very frank about what we can and cannot afford.

I work 30 hours on a low income but have childcare and a mortgage so things are tight.

Their Dad takes them on holidays abroad while we make do with British caravan holidays.

We sat down and had a frank conversation last year. I said that we could afford the nice things that they have with their Dad but I'd work full time, see them lesd and wouldn't be able to pick them up from school. Or i could work less hours and we would have less but more time. They chose the latter.

They now have a good understanding of the value of money and that i earn it to pay all the bills. They can also look at a shopping trolly and guess pretty accurately how much we've spent. We always shop together. We use it for maths practice and to discuss the financial value of things.

This approach is working for us.

Good luck!

Educating my children on money

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free