Children are our prime responsibility and each one of us, as parents, is ready to run the extra mile for them, to fulfil their dreams and wishes. We try to give our children the best of everything from the beginning, be it education or lifestyle. However, amongst all these, teaching financial discipline and inculcating the habit of savings in children from the beginning is one area which is largely ignored by parents. The urban lifestyle, work pressure and an easy gateway for parents giving into each and every demand of their child is making the situation worse for the younger generation.
Importance of teaching children money matters:
It is extremely important that we let children understand the importance of money management from a very young age, which will help them lead a better life later. Children can be taught money management skills in their growing years from various activities and example as they tend to pick up things faster. Nowadays, children do not understand the value of money, let alone understanding the importance of saving it. Therefore, as parents it is extremely important that we teach them the value of money and also the importance of savings.
In order to achieve the same parents can follow some useful tips mentioned below:
- Inculcate the habit of savings from early childhood with a Piggy Bank: Piggy banks have been a part of everyone’s childhood memory. If you introduce the habit of putting aside small savings in children from the very beginning, it will become a part of their routine effortlessly. You can also incentivise the children by putting one coin from your side for every one coin that they put in the piggy bank, this way they will see also see their savings grow.
- Fix a monthly allowance: You can introduce monthly allowance for growing children and tell them to buy what they need from that. Not only will this help in curtailing impulsive buying habit in children but also help in setting their priorities, As every purchase would be made after evaluating the options, they would learn to spend their money prudently and also learn to save up for such purchases.
- Assign some chores for monetary reward: The major problem in today’s time is that parents do not let their children do any work as they believe that children should only focus on their studies and extra-curricular activities. You assign simple tasks, such as cleaning up, organising their closet, laying the table for a meal, etc. and set up a monetary reward for each task completed. Not only would it make them more responsible, but also understand the need to work to earn money.
- Teach them Financial Goal Setting: When your children demand something expensive next time, you can tell them that they have to buy it from their own allowance. This way they would understand how much they need to save up to fulfil their desire. Delaying a purchase would also make them understand the worth of it and value it more.
- Lead by example: Lastly, actions speak louder than words. Children tend to imitate their parents in every aspect of life. So if you really want your children to understand the value of money and savings, you have to be a role model for them. If children see their parents discussing about making new purchases for the house like a new TV or fridge or a car and prioritising their purchase, they would see through the same and understand the significance of it. On the contrary, if they see parents making impulsive purchases they would end up doing the same. Hence, it is very important that as parents we set the right example for our children.
Though financial literacy and money management is now becoming a part of the curriculum in schools but children imbibe the habits of savings from their parents. Thus, parents should take it not just as a responsibility, but also as a duty to impart good financial habits in young children.
[tek_button button_text=”Download Fisdom App” button_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2OxFuX6||target:%20_blank|” button_position=”button-center”]
