Teaching Your Kids to Spend Wisely

Listed below are useful tips on teaching your kids to spend their money wisely.

• A regular allowance, no matter how small, helps give a child a sense of independence and responsibility. He learns how money can be used to buy things he needs or wants.
• Unless the child has chance to spend his money himself, in any way he wants, he will not have the real learning experience, so don’t tell him how to spend his money or to scold him when you find out he has spent it foolishly.
• Do not give him more money when he runs short of it so that he will learn to limit his expenditures or to make choices. If he needs to have money badly, give him some but consider it an advance to be deducted from his next allowance.
• Your child’s allowance should be enough to cover all his needs, plus a little extra for emergency use or savings. Until he learns how to make both ends meet or to make it last til the next allowance, it is better to give the money on a daily basis. Most mothers give their kids a daily allowance while they are in grade school, a weekly allowance when they reach high school. And depends on a child’s ability to manage his money.
• Don’t use the money emotionally; that is, giving money as a reward for good behavior or withdrawing or reducing his allowance as punishment for misconduct. An allowance is given because it is needed, not according to parental whims.
• Do not allow your child to get caught up in “keeping with the Joneses” pattern at his impressionistic age. When he complains that his classmates or friends have bigger allowances or more money to spend, the best answer or explanation you can give is because his friend’s parent are richer or more indulgent.
• Encourage your kids to earn. The money a child earns on his own is money he value most. Earning does not mean asking for payment for doing household chores they should perform in their contribution for keeping the house clean and tidy and in good shape. However, parents should pay their kids for doing tasks or jobs that they pay outsiders to do, especially when this jobs require extra effort or interfere with the children’s normal activities.
• Get your kids to share in money decisions. When something expensive is to be bought, consult the children, discussing with them the pros and cons of such a purchase. When a money problem arises in the family, let the children offer suggestions for solving it.

No child is too young to be told by his parents why they cannot give him the money he asks for or why they cannot or should not buy the expensive toy he wants just because one of his playmates has one and is showing it off.

But the most important factor in the training of child in the management of money is the example set by his parents, their attitude towards money shown in various ways in their daily life. Hope you guys find these tips useful.