How do you encourage your children to have good financial
habits and at what age do you start?
One of my observations is that when you get several three
year olds together and give them a bag of sweets each – some will scoff them
all down and ask for more – some will share them with everyone and expect
nothing in return – some will have one or two and put the rest away for
later. And I believe this is how they will treat their
money in later life.
So the question then is – how do you encourage your children
to have good financial habits and at what age do you start? My experience is that no matter what you do -
sometimes their own instincts rule no matter what. However a method that several have tried and
found effective is to ask children to undertake certain tasks for no reward –
like making their bed – tidying their room.
Then for a small sum or a treat or an activity that they enjoy – to take
on other chores like washing up – setting the table etc. This provides them with a sense of
responsibility for their actions as well as a financial or other reward for
‘work’.
A multimillionaire friend told me that he grew up on a farm
in England and his father was a vet. He
had certain chores that he had to complete each day for no reward – then there
was a book of varying jobs for varying dollar values. One afternoon he decided that he wanted to
purchase the latest gadget for early teens – so he went to the book and found
the greatest rewarding job and finished it that afternoon. The job entailed moving a whole pile of heavy
rocks from one part of the farm to the other.
He puts this reward for effort down to his extremely high work ethic and
his attitude that the more you work the higher you get paid. By the way he didn’t finish Grade 10.
At what age do you get them started – this will vary
depending on the child – but the sooner the better. If you make cleaning up the toys as much fun
as it is for them to create the mess in the first place – this is a good
start. Again bribery and corruption work
extremely well!.
One key to this is
working out the right time to do this and not waiting until they are tired and
grumpy. Get them into the habit of
making a part of play time - cleaning up time.
Personalities always come to the fore here as outlined above – and some
children are very happy to clean and tidy up until say aged 10 and suddenly
they hate it.
Ask them what they would like to do in the time allocated –
provide them with some choices – and get them involved in the decision making
process – then you set the agenda and include the things that are important to
you but possibly not to them.
Sell it to them on the basis that if you have to do all the work there
will be less time to do more enjoyable things.
On the other hand if they assist you with the chores then there will be
more time to do the things you enjoy doing together. This provides them
with a confidence in making decisions and shows them that with every decision
that involves fun and enjoyment – also comes activities and/or consequences
that are not as much fun. These lessons
will be invaluable when it comes to their finances and other major decisions in
later life.
This is
one of the topics that I cover in my Wealth Coaching For Women course.
Janeece Giraldo
WIN Financial Network
Janeece is one of our expert presenters at the WDD Event in Melbourne, For more information on how to handle your finances to create wealth, make sure that you book your place at the event through the Women's Development Day Website
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