Dollars and Sense: Raising
Financially Fit Kids
By Kerrie McLoughlin
695 words
Please contact me at mommykerrie@yahoo.com if you'd like to see this piece in full to consider purchasing it for your parenting magazine, either online or in print!
Please contact me at mommykerrie@yahoo.com if you'd like to see this piece in full to consider purchasing it for your parenting magazine, either online or in print!
When I was a kid I thought that just because there were checks
in my parents’ checkbook, there was plenty of money in the bank. How many kids these
days think whipping out a credit card is the way to pay for items – any items –
no matter the cost? I don’t want my own kids to be financial freaks, fiscal
failures, money misfits. As parents, we have a special opportunity to teach our
kids about money … and how they can handle it responsibly so they stay out of
debt down the line and know how to save for their future needs and wants.
Saving money. The elementary-age crowd is eager to soak up information about
money, as they are tiny consumers. Start with a simple piggy bank for very
young kids and teach about saving money in the piggy bank until they have saved
enough money to buy something special. For preschoolers, this may be a small
toy. For older kids, they may keep their saved money in a wallet and eventually
spend it on something like a nice doll outfit, a LEGO set or a Nerf gun.
Kerrie
McLoughlin is the homeschooling mom of five financially savvy kids and shares
their journey at FrugaliciousFamilyFun.com.
