Money Rules....Money Management lessons for kids

SV,

We have discussed this in various headings in the schoolgoers and teens and parenting. i have even discussed about not paying money for chores in one thread.

check it out.

 

hi srividya,
my son is 5.5 years old & i was wondering if this is the right time to start teaching him about money,earning,saving & delayed gratification etc.

i plan to buy him a piggy bank & start giving him some coins.till now,i have been collecting small coins like the equivalent of 25 paisa,50 paisa which i give him to put in temple donation box.he loves the sound of coins entering the donation boxes .for him 25,50 paisa coins are bigger then the RS 10 note
well,i feel we should give allowance to kids but not force then to save.let them learn how & why to save & how to avoid instant gratification.if they learn today to say no to choclate & save that money for cricket ball its lesson worth learnt but if they choose the choclate then let then try to play cricket without ball..............this will help them to think before spending the next time over.
pragati

 

Hi Pragati,

When my daughter got her first piggy bank, she also thought the same, coins have more value than notes . Now she got 2 piggy banks, one for coins and other for "monies" (notes) and she realised that she can get more chocolates for monies than coins.

I introduced her to the concept of pocket money. She gets Rs. 100 per week. She can purchase what she wants with it, new hair pins or chocolates etc. But if she saves, she gets double of that money from me. For, ex. in a particular week, she saves Rs.75, she gets rs. 75 more from me. That total amount goes into a separate purse in my cupboard. Recently she wanted a carrom board and she asked me to buy it. I told her she can buy it from her purse savings. She was pleasantly surprised and didnt believe at first. She patiently counted all her coins and "monies", realised she had enough to buy the board. I took her to the shop and she herself counted and paid the shop keeper. The pride in her face is priceless :2thumbsup:. Now she realised that if she saves, she can buy herself something nice from time to time.

-Lakshmi

 

That's awesome Lakshmi!!
A penny saved is a penny earned!! But at what age we can start making them to save (monies)??
My son is 2.3, and whatever he wants we have to get it in minutes by taking him to nearest shop otherwise he will become wild and cry like anything. Afterall he asks for Cars....you know we have huge car force at home. He is happy if it is a 10/- car or a 10000/- car....we have all kinds of cars at home...and count is reaching near 1000 soon.

 

Hi Priya_Mommy,

Wow, thats a huge car collection. You should start a thread with the pics. My little lady is after barbie dolls. She has 11 and counting....

I gifted her a piggy bank on her 4th birthday. Thats the approximate time when we started. But she didnt realize the concept of money at that time. She treated it like a game. Wants all the coins in the home to drop them in the piggy bank.

Regarding realising the concept of money: when she is about 3+ years old, she used to think that the shopkeeper is giving her the chocolates or the toy just like that :bonk She used to be so polite to that guy and thank him for giving them to her . Later when she is about 4, whenever i take her to a shop, I used to show her that he will not give her the "choki" till i pay him the "monies". She was so interested in the coins and notes that on Oct 2nd when she saw Mahatma Gandhi on TV, she said, "hey, this is the "boy" on my "monies" :biglaugh

-Lakshmi

 

Priyamommy,

That is lot of cars. i remember mine bringing his huge bag when we were moving to bahrain from chennai. when scanned it showed lot of metal, actually in the early morning hurry we forgot what it was:hide:. then the officer asked us to open, when we opened, there were small cars everywhere in 100's. the officer smiled and allowed us to take them.

Lakshmi, that is so sweet of your kiddo.

pragathi, 6.5 is a good time.

With DD, i think i started at 2.5, she was getting coins and notes whenever she was going out with her granny to someone's home and they gave the traditional betel nut and blouse bit to MIL and money and fruits to her. I brought her a piggy bank, then. she did save a 500 (any coin lying around, did go into that:rotfl) the first year. with DS, he learnt it from the master (who else dd..) now they have two piggy banks.

They learnt the value of money, playing money games on jumpstart i think.

when ds was 4, he thought everything was easy because of the credit cards, we then told him that unless there was money in the bank, the card will not pay and if the card pays the money in the bank will reduce, so we need to do things accordingly and now he does not take credit cards for granted,and on top of that i don't have any.

They go out to shops on their own from dd was 7 and ds was 8. I do give them emergency fund of rs10, to use the payphone (they use the school bus.), if it is still there at the end of the week, i add 40 and it goes in their account as 50.

They have a long term goal. DS wants a yamaha bike. and he wants us to give him the deficit that will be there, when he is 18.

DD wants a Harley davidson, and she is saving for that.

Once a goal (long term is set) the small gratifications, take a back seat. and moreover, the need to spend themselves is nil.

They have a bank account in their names, too. They are now aware of the benefits of compounding.

now, whatever they have saved upto their birthdays, we just double that amount and split it into two and lock it for them. that way, they know that they have to share between each other and also the value of money.

this year, they have donated their whole year's saving to support a child each with CRY, and I was really moved.

So it is not the age, it is the idea/goal behind the saving that motivates the child. I don't believe in rewarding them with money for anything that is done by them. they don't get huge pocket money. they do get money, as and when necessary. t

 

Hi Shanvy and other experienced moms,

I am mom of 5 year old.I got a piggy bank for him and he has put some coins in it.I started doing it after a suggestion came across that i should give a coin if he behaves really good.He is genegrally a very good boy and listens to me most of the time except those out of no reasons tantrums.

Initailly i gave hime a coin each time he did something nice.He was so happy about it.But then I realised and doubt if it is the right appraoch with kids!I mean Will it not teach him that if he does anything to please somebody he would get money.I guess this would entirely serve the reverse purpose for which i started it at the first place.Is it not teaching them bribery.So i stopped him giving him after initial few days itself.

Priti

 

Priti,

I think you should follow our discussions in these threads. I strongly believe no money for being good or doing a job. there are two school of thought on that. but for me it is a big NO to pay for a job at home.

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/schoolgoers-and-teens/40112-chores-and-children.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/schoolgoers-and-teens/34717-money-canteen-7-yr-old.html
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/toddlers/34906-pocket-money-piggy-bank-when.html

 

hi moms of all car crazy boys,
well,count me in .i have 2 boys & just imagine the number of cars i have.And its same with balls.all size,material & nearly all colours.

after,contributing to this thread i went ahead & brought him a cute piggy bank & since i knew the little one would also fight for it, i got one for him too (he is 23 mths old)
since then both sit & count the few coins they have accomolated & keep nagging me to put more..........well,i think i have to rob the bank to pay to beggars.

lakshmi ,
u gave me a good trick of doubling the money depending on the amount saved.i am going to try once i manage to tearch that Rs 1 is more then 25 paisa.........thanks

priyamommy,
really,the persistence power of little ones............still i try to distract attention to some less costly or some useful toy.or best to some eatable like icecream or choclate.

shanvy,
really very generous of ur kids to donate money.kids are notorious 'me first people & if they think of people who they have not even met its really very generous of them.

srividya,
great thread
pragati