Teaching Your Children About the Value of Money, Here's How

Most of our children will first encounter money management through a piggy bank. Children will fill them with coins after completing a task given by parents or doing a good deed, and you may start recalling that as a child, you received a buck or two from your parents and depositing it in your piggy bank.

Though we also know that young children are often unaware of the financial situation we have inside our home, children should learn about saving and preparing for a financial future. And parents training them with piggy banks can be one of the biggest helps possible. 

More importantly, our children don't often learn to save at school, so it is up to the parents and how well we can teach them about finances. 

READ: Save Money for Your Kids Now! Here Are Accounts Every Parent Should Know About

Proven Ways of Saving Money You Should Impart To Your Children

Opening bank accounts for your children

Opening bank accounts for your children is the first step toward developing healthy financial habits that they will inherit for the rest of their lives. To teach them with their money on their bank accounts, consider putting their birthday savings and holiday gift money into the account together to help your child develop a strong foundation as he or she grows.

Be a good model of financial behavior

The first and most important thing to remember as a parent is that your children follow in your footsteps as their elders. Children usually are very keen observers, and they also imitate and absorb several acts simply by watching their parents or any adult inside their household. And this kind of situation, parents must see to it that you should set a good example for your children by demonstrating to them the good financial practices you often do and the economic philosophies regularly.

To help you learn how to best demonstrate to your children, you can research to explain the opportunity costs and discuss money management thoroughly with them.

READ MORE: Value of Money: 7 Essential Lessons to Teach Children

Make habits that are relatable to your children 

Teaching your children about good financial practices doesn't have to be complicated and complex. You can use a variety of situations in their daily lives, such as the following examples; 

• The delay tactics - it will be best to give your kid the chance to delay a situation, avoid instant gratification. It will take some time, much like putting money in a savings account and putting it away for a particular item they want to purchase. Patience is key.
• Play with the situation - you can put currency into games you and your children are playing or pretend to play with your children but teaching them in the same way. Like when they are playing with a cooking start by asking how much the ingredients are. 
• Be vocal about it - It's beneficial to be open about your expenses inside the family so that your children can understand how it all works. That doesn't mean that you have to sit down with a net worth statement and go over anything you buy with your children, but it is crucial. Take your children to the bank to open an account if they're a little older.

So why is it relevant to teach your children about saving money? It is the best way to teach them about patience that getting what they always want doesn't have to be given right away. Sometimes, we need to wait for some time to get what we want. Instilling them patience will prepare them for future money-saving situations. 

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