Financial Education for Children

Does talking to children about entrepreneurship at an early age make sense? Our school system is set up to lead our children into the workplace as employees, not employers. Now don't get me wrong, we as a society definitely need employees: police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, etc., but why not shine some light on entrepreneurship too?
Incorporating the principles and philosophies of success with emphasis on teamwork, community involvement, and entrepreneurship go well with all types of learners of varying ages. Children deserve the opportunity to at least hear about what entrepreneurship is, why they may want to be entrepreneurial, when they could do this and, of course, how to be an entrepreneur. We find that children are very responsive when talking about making money on their own. As early as six years of age, children are starting to realize the importance behind making your own money vs. working for someone else. Unfortunately, not enough children in the world are being introduced to this kind of lifestyle. So below you will find some great tips, in no particular order, to help introduce your child to entrepreneurship.

1. StoryTime

A great way to get your child started is by sharing with them inspiring stories of kids today, who are already entrepreneurs. The internet is a great resource, making available great stories about kid entrepreneurs from around the world, what they are doing right now and how they are doing it. When sharing inspiring kid entrepreneur stories ask your children questions like: How did they do that? Why did they do it? Do you think you can do something like that? What makes you feel that way? If you get an answer like "I cant do that," then just follow up with "Well, if you could do that, how would you do it?" This usually gets an answer. Oh, and don't forget to show your kids pictures, watch video's or check out news clips of kid entrepreneur's. Its also quite effective when kids hear the stories right from another kids mouth.

2. Field Trip Fun

Contact local businesses, churches or news agencies to see if you could arrange for your kids to visit with them and get a behind the scenes look at how the particular business operates. Approach businesses that hold a high interest level for your kids. Let the places know that your interested in a behind the scenes look at their business operations for your children and their friends who are learning about entrepreneurship. I highly recommend that you bring your children's friends too, so you all can enjoy the experience together and so that your child has like minded individuals to discuss their findings with.

3. Raising Some Bucks

Have a fundraiser for a cause that is very important to your child or have them pick products they think they can sell either in the neighborhood or to local businesses. Let your kids bring in some of their friends that want to be a part of the action. Have them brainstorm ideas and narrow the list down to a few that they all agree on. Assist them in organizing the timing and the locations they conduct these "business meetings". For some great fundraising and sale ideas check out our article (Fun Ways Kids Can Earn a Buck)

4. Make Planning Fun

Start planning with your kids. For the younger kids create a plan book from scratch, even some of the older kids can get into this too. Design it however they want. They can add stickers or make fancy title pages within their planner. The point here is for them to personalize it as much as they like. You can even pick up an inexpensive planner for their use. Talk to them about the importance of using the planner daily, and getting into the habit of planning for each day the night before. Explain to them how this will start to free up more time for them to do the things they want to be doing, instead of just doing the things they have to be doing as they become more focused. In addition to a planner/goal book, have children create a journal as well, writing down brief entries into a personal journal on a daily basis of things that interest or perplex them is a great way to get them started with being responsible, planning for their future, and allowing them time for natural, real world problem solving!

5. Use Your Imagination

Go online or to your library and search for wonderful places around the globe that you would love to visit sometime in your life. Have the kids look through books or at websites. Take notice as to what types of places intrigue them the most and talk about those places. Ask them what they would have to do in order to get to visit these wonderful places. Have them search how much it would cost to fly there if you were to leave today. What could they do to raise enough money for a trip like that? What other expenses may they encounter planning for a trip to that location? If its something they really want to do have them list it in their journal as one of their goals and then start to list all the things they need to do in order to reach that goal.

6. Break Out the Seasonings

Sharpen you children's sense and general memory by playing memory games/puzzles. Play silly and fun games like "Identify that smell" or "Name that object" where children are paired off in teams and try to identify blindfolded certain odors or identify what object they are touching without being able to see it. Not only is it fun but it will also help enhance the brain performance of its participants. Thereby increasing creativity and problem solving abilities, two key ingredients in becoming an entrepreneur!

7. Don't be shy

I know that there is a lot of old fashioned parents out their that think that the household finances should be top secret and not discussed with children. When it comes to bill time or any time money needs to be discussed, don't be shy. Share with children the expenses and income you manage each month and each year. Show them the bills you pay, how much they are, and when they are due. Explain to them how you make your payments on these bills. If you write checks to pay them, then have them help you with that. If you pay some of your bills online, have them help with that too. Don't be shy, show them how you balance your checkbook and keep track of your finances. If your not sure how yourself, research it online or at the library and learn it with your children. You would be surprised as to how many kids are actually interested in learning how to pay bills, balance a bank account, or even create a budget%u2026and it increases their interest in math by giving them purpose for learning the subject!

8. Try Something Different

Have a "what I want to be when I grow up" party with your child and their friends; where everyone comes to the party as what they want to be when the grow up. Children play the role and parents encourage by catering to the children's needs. You can give prizes to the kids for acting their parts and encourage the role-playing. This will help them see themselves now as they could potentially become in the future, bringing the feelings of success of what it would feel like. By the parents catering to the "grown-ups" needs, the kids get the idea of what respectful/professional treatment would seem like when they actually reach their goals.

Conclusion

These unique tips are a great starting point to introduce entrepreneurship to children. Informing children at an early age about entrepreneurship gives them more time to really find within themselves the things that they want to do in life. The things that make them happy. Many successful people agree that part of success is doing the things you love to do. The more time children get to explore different things (with this future awareness in mind) the better chance they have of finding their true passions and going forward with it successfully.

We all have dreams that when we grow-up we want to do some "spectacular thing" that seems impossible to do as an adult, never mind as a kid, but if you take a look around the world today there is a growing trend over the last decade or so of an increasing number of child entrepreneurs coming into the business world. In the past, we would see children in movies or in plays but, more recently, we see them as the CEO of a company. Children as young as six years old are not only starting their own businesses but having tremendous success at it. We notice in this trend of amazing kid entrepreneurs that there is not much difference between them compared to their successful adult CEO counterparts.

Napoleon Hill, author of many great books such as the Keys to Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement, took on a task that would lay down the philosophy of success for all of us to follow. This philosophy of success, or "formula", is still being used today, successfully, by hundreds of thousands of men, women and now children, to achieve anything that they truly desire AND proving the formula works. It all starts with a dream, a strong desire to accomplish something that you want, something you can see and feel yourself having in the future.

Together, adults need to encourage children everywhere to think about their future in more than just terms of what they want to be when they grow up, but also; what they want to do now. Why wait? It is our belief that if children begin thinking now about what they want their financial futures to look like, they will create a "self-fulfilling prophecy" of sorts. Take this one step further, inform children about entrepreneurship as a choice for a career. Show them videos of successful kid entrepreneurs. They are not tough to find. Do a search on Google or in YouTube for kid entrepreneurs. See what you come up with and share these with your kids. They are really inspiring, even to adults. Research shows us that children learn better from their own peers than anyone else and we should use this to teach children about finances and success as much as we can. It is easier to learn when we make learning fun! Being financially educated is an important concept to learn, and videos can help kids understand these concepts much better.

Like we said earlier, " It all starts with a dream, a strong desire to accomplish something that you want ". What is Desire? Here is an easy way to break it down for the kids that is self-explanatory. These will help build strong character skills in your child that are necessary for being successful in all you do. We will start with the D in Desire.

D stands for Dreams, Determination, Dedication

D represents the importance of making our Dreams or desires come true. It also stands for Determination. In other words, you must be determined in making your desires come true. It will not be easy and mistakes will be made, but if you stay Dedicated to your efforts, eventually you will reach your goals.

E stands for Example, Edison, Embark, Enjoy

E is our Example of Edison who Embarked on an adventure that produced failure after failure, but he never gave up. He Enjoyed what he was doing and was determined to see his desires come true. His dedication to his desires are clearly shown in his life ventures and through inventions we still use today.

S stands for Self-Confidence, Strong, Satisfaction

S stands for being Strong and not letting your failures get in your way. Your Self-Confidence will start to grow stronger and this will eventually bring you much Satisfaction.

I means Interest, In Search Of, Idea

I is important and simulates the Interest one should have in what they want to do in life. You must be interested in what you're doing and if you are not interested in anything, then you should be In Search of that interest until you find it. When you find your interest, start to think of Idea's of how you can turn your interest into cash. It starts with an interest in something and an idea.

R stands for Recognize, Research, Responsibility

R means you must be able to Recognize your idea when it appears, then Research it. Technology has really helped children in many ways, such as, the ease of finding resources necessary to start a business or how to network with other like-minded kids. Remember to always take Responsibility with your ideas and desires and make sure that you perform within the legal realm of the law.

E reveals to us to Embrace, Enjoy, Effort

E gives us instruction to Embrace our dreams and desires and Enjoy them fully in both good times and bad. Make sure you put forth all the Effort necessary to ensure total fulfillment of your dreams and desires.

S in Desires reminds us to Stay Focused on what it is we want. Staying focused on our desires will help us possibly avoid costly mistakes along the way that could save a lot of time and money. It helps keep the vision clear of what we want and how we are going to get it. To help us stay focused we absolutely must have a definite plan set in place to follow, which will guide our efforts much easier than trying to wing it without a plan.

Pledge to teach at least one child in your life, today, about the power of our desires. Talk to them about how they can start right away working on their dreams and desires, to ensure a prosperous future. The second critical step, "Having a definite plan," can be found in a Definite Plan: How Kids Dreams are Turned Into Reality. The Second Step

The key ingredient in teaching children how to get into the habit of planning, "The Second Step", is by simply encouraging them to do so. Whether it's the parents not putting enough emphasis on the importance of planning and working with their child, or the school system not consistently working with the kids in planning methods, the bottom line is children are growing up missing the opportunity to learn about the value of planning their precious time.

Working with many children, we have come to discover that kids really do like to plan, once they see the underlying value behind it. They are quite perceptive to using a tool that is personal to them and assists them with direction, not only on a daily basis, but for the long-term as well. We first need to start by explaining to them how planning will start to free up more time for them to do the things they want to be doing, instead of just doing the things they have to be doing, such as the chores, or for some, homework.

Now, there are many ways to go about teaching a child how to come up with a clear-cut plan and why planning is so very important. We would like to share with you a simple, yet effective way you can communicate to any child in your life the significance of coming up with a definite plan for their respective futures. To continue, you will need a piece of paper and a pencil.

Start by writing the number twenty-four on top of the page. This will represent the number of hours in a day. Together, figure out how many hours each night they sleep on average and subtract that from your twenty-four. So say they sleep ten hours we would be left with four-teen hours. Then we subtract school time, so figure seven hours, we are left with seven hours. Now together, brainstorm with the child a list of the things that they would normally have to do each day, besides going to school and sleep; such as brushing teeth, showering, homework, chores, eating dinner or snack etc.
When you are done with that, associate the amount of time it should take for each one of those tasks. For example, brushing teeth and showering equals 45 minutes. Homework 1 hour, choirs 30 minutes, food time 30 minutes, planning for next day 15 minutes etc. (Remember every family is different so base these numbers on what is the norm for your family.) We then go ahead and add those times up.

For our example we would total out at 3 hours. Now we subtract these three hours from the seven that we were left over after sleep and school time were deducted. In this example we are left with 4 hours for the day. This could be used for child's free time or what ever other activities they need or want to do. Some kids go to aftercare, some kids have practice for whatever they are into and that's fine. Make your adjustments accordingly and together. The bottom line here, is that children will know each day what is expected from them. They will be more apt to do these things promptly because they took part in planning for it. They then start to realize the free time it is giving them and then start to become consistent with it.

For younger kids, create a plan book from scratch, even some of the older kids can get into this, too. Design it however they want. They can add stickers or make fancy title pages within their planner. The point here is for them to personalize it as much as they like. You can even pick up an inexpensive planner for their use. Talk to them about the importance of using the planner daily, and getting into the habit of planning for each day the night before.

Like we stated in Desires - How Kids Dreams Are Turned Into Reality - The First Step
"It all starts with a dream, a strong desire to accomplish something that you want". Second you have to have a Definite Plan. What is a Definite Plan? Here is an easy way to break it down for the kids that is self-explanatory. These steps will help build strong character skills in your child which are necessary for being successful in all they do. We will start with the D in Definite.

D stands for Definite, Devoted, Dreams, Direction

The D in Definite tells us that we must be Devoted to our Dreams. Constructing a definite plan gives us the Direction we need to make our desires come true.

E means Effort, Envision, Effective

The E represents the Effort we need to put forth in making sure we do the things that are included in our plan. If we continually Envision our goals throughout the entire process, we will be Effective in reaching the outcome.

F equates to Fine Tuning, Focused, Favorable

The F stands for Fine Tuning. This simply means that we must constantly make changes to our plan, along the way, to assure that what we are doing is leading us in the direction we intended. Stay Focused at all times on what your doing and your results are sure to be Favorable.

I equals Identify, Inventory

Always review your plan. You must Identify all that's working, and not working, so your able to make the necessary adjustments. Take Inventory of all your tasks and add any more that you can think of.

N tells us a plan is Necessary

Having a plan, a definite plan, is Necessary if you want to achieve your goals.

I refers to Imagination and Ideas

Let our Imagination spell it out for us. What does your Imagination tell you? How do you see it? How much of it can you Imagine? Imagine that you have already achieved the Ideas you came up with. Picture what it would be like if you already succeeded in reaching your goal. How does it make you feel?

T is for Thinking

Thinking about your mission, reviewing your plan daily in your mind, will also help you reach your goals. Keep it fresh in your head as much as possible, and before you realize it, you will be there.

E is for Examine

Again, Examine both the negative outcomes that you encountered, as well as the positive ones. Mistakes will definitely be made along the way. Take the time to Examine both and question what could have been done to avoid those particular mistakes.

Lets look at the word Plan now.

What does each letter in the word Plan tell us? The P tells us to Prioritize your tasks accordingly. L is for Listing all your goals on paper, then taking each one and starting to associate tasks to reach those goals. The A tells us to take Action. Put the plan into play. Keep in mind that if you don't take Action on your plan, you are doomed to fail. You must take Action. Finally the N in Plan Notifies us to Never give up. We will run into obstacles along the way. Just, whatever you do, don't let them stop you from reaching your goals. Learn from those obstacles and move on. You can do it. Believe in yourself and your half way to reaching your desires.

While these are simply steps to creating and following a definite plan, they can also serve as inspiration for getting your child to act responsibly. Kids like to impress adults, and often lack the skills necessary to show how responsible they can be. Don't forget to check out the next step to success in Persistence- How Kids Dreams Are Turned Into Reality- The Third Step.