When your kids are out of diapers, you think you’re out of the woods but you quickly learn the next age brings its own smelly challenges (in a less literal sense, thankfully). My girls are growing in a flash, and I often reflect about what each stage asks of me as their dad. What am I teaching them? Am I doing it well? If we’re being honest, all parents who care about their children have moments in which we feel like we’re doing everything wrong. But, then there are the moments in which your daughter gives you a hug or writes you a thank you card, and then you know. You’re doing something right.
I’ve been thinking about this recently in terms of money. What are my daughters learning, and what can I do better? Financial literacy for kids is an area that is a bit daunting. I didn’t have a roadmap for teaching my daughters about money, but I knew I wanted them to have life skills around managing it. I’ve come up with some ways of imparting this, and they seem to be working. Here are some creative parenting ideas about kids and money, in the hopes it helps you navigate this stage too.
Start Early
My oldest daughter, Lexi, is getting ready to get her license (cue the terror screams in my head). While the thought is mind-boggling (ok, frightening) and also exciting, we’ve been preparing for this for the past three years. As soon as we could, my wife and I took Lexi to open her own checking account. We’ve taught her to save money, and set goals. Some of them have been small, some big. But through trial and error, she’s learned what it takes to save. She also can use important financial lingo around her friends, like withdrawal, deposit, and so forth (I’m so proud).
But even before we could legally open a checking account for her, we talked about money openly with both our girls. They heard phrases like, “that’s not in our budget” and “let’s save up for that,” regularly. It became a regular part of their lives, and they learned early on about financial literacy simply by hearing and watching us.
Make Them Pay
Sometimes, parents feel guilty about having their children buy something for themselves (or sometimes it can seem funny when it’s really your money after all). But you’re not doing them any favors by giving them the illusion that someone else will always pay their way. I do admit I struggled with this at first but eventually, I hit upon a compromise.
Lexi pays for half of her phone costs, which my wife and I decided was fair and would teach her some financial responsibility. But we put the money she pays us for it into an investment account for her future. She doesn’t know this (so let’s hope she doesn’t read this blog), but it made me feel better about asking her to pay for something I could be paying for her. She’s learning about what it takes to pay bills, and meanwhile, her investment account is growing. If that’s not a win/win, I don’t know what is.
Be The Change
One of the biggest things I’ve learned about being a parent is that it makes you look in the mirror. You’re forced to consider who you are as a person because you start seeing your traits and habits showing up in your kids. Talk about a wake-up call. If your child thinks you’ll buy them anything they want at Target, it’s because you’ve taught them you will. If they think food is only made at restaurants and delivered by DoorDash, it’s because your habits showed them that (to be honest, we’re working on this one).
No judgment, either. We all have complicated relationships with money and get stuck in our routines. But we can change, and it’s often in our kids’ best interests (and ours) that we do. So if you spend your paycheck as soon as you get it, try delaying gratification. Get creative. Make food at home more often, and go out less. Save for your next trip instead of putting it on credit cards. Financial guru Dave Ramsey says, “Winning at money is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge.” If you want your kids to adopt healthy financial behaviors, you have to first demonstrate them.
How about you? Do you have any tips for raising money-savvy kids? I’d love to hear them. Contact me here!
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