Kids Make Money

What do you imagine your children value most? The best way to find out is to ask them. Simply make the time to sit quietly with them and with a pad and a pen, ask them the following question "What is important to you in your life right now?"
LISTEN carefully to what they answer and ask them questions about what they say. Make sure you write their answers down for reference later.

When your child says they can't think of anything more, ask them the question again and have them sit and wait for a while to see what else pops into their mind.

Then when they feel they have said everything, ask them one more time. Often what pops into ones mind after a couple of blocks is some of the most important 'stuff'.

You will no doubt get very different answers from your children at different ages. It is really worthwhile to write your children's names and the date down when you do this exercise with them. That way you can redo the exercise each year or two and see how their values change as they age. You no doubt can remember things when you were very young that were really important to you then that are no longer important... I am sure there are some embarrassing photos in your family albums as evidence of some of the trends you lived through and identities you created for yourself in your teens and twenties! Imagine celebrating your child's 18th birthday and being able to share with all of their friends and family what they thought was really important when they were four!

If "having money" or a related answer doesn't come up for them, then chances are they don't understand what it really is yet and you have taken a step in the right direction to change that.

What you are investigating in this exercise is your children's values. Values drive everything we do. Have you ever noticed that as soon as your bills for living expenses become uncomfortably large, you stop spending your money on 'stuff'? It's not because you no longer want to buy things, it is more likely because you and your family's security may be under threat. You value having the security of somewhere to live and food on the table and choose to put your money there rather than into buying a new television.

The big question here is "How do we help our children see value in what we consider to be important?" Parents all want their children to be safe, secure, healthy and happy. Most parents want their children to have better lives than they had growing up. They see having money as an important aspect of being able to provide this environment for their children yet many often struggle to teach their children good money management.

Some parents also think 'kids should be kids' and see thinking about money as a 'bad' thing kids shouldn't have to do. If you fall into this category, please consider where you learned about money and what the effect will be on your children if they grow up thinking it's bad to think about or focus on money. We invite you to consider changing your own thinking by really examining it and then consider selecting new empowering thoughts around money.

Having your child determine their own values is the first step (out of seven) for them wanting to start making and managing their own money.

"Teaching Kids About Money"covers all of these steps and covers everything you need to know about how to teach your kids really good money habits. You'll even be able to show them how to have heaps of fun making and managing their money!