Five ways to teach kids the value of money during the holidays
December 21, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Kid Stuff
Right now, kids are hopping about with sugar plum dreams, and most likely no thoughts of money or what holidays cost.
Not to kill the magic of the holiday season, but money skills are important year round. Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentines, and other holidays present good opportunities to push money skills home with your kids.
Allow your kids to give and receive: Getting gifts is fun for kids, but don’t underestimate the joy of giving. Most kids are thrilled with this. Some families I know celebrate the holidays in a thrifty manner by only buying gifts for the kids in the family. I don’t agree with this because it makes the holiday a little too much about a kid, and not about the whole family and friend group.
Work on a holiday budget: Along with the above tip, if you have the money means, set a small holiday gift budget for your child, and allow him to choose gifts for a few people. It helps your little one learn about cash and math if he sees that he’ll need to divide $50 somehow between 4 people.
Introduce philanthropy: Any holiday is a good time to discuss charity with your child. There are always kids in your community who won’t get to celebrate due to lack of money. It teaches your child about money and caring if you include a charity in your holiday celebration. For example, at Easter, set aside a charity budget. Allow your child to choose Easter basket fillers and then have him help you to set up the baskets and delivery them to a charity for kids.
Discuss what gifts cost: If you allow your child to believe in Santa, then he probably assumes those gifts are free (that’s fine). However, you can discuss gifts you may be giving him. Kids, starting at about 7 or 8 years old can handle this conversation. You can talk about how he’d like to get the Lego set, car track, and new video game but that all three cost so and so amount, which is too much for the budget. Talk about him making a list of favorite items he’d like that say, cost under $200 vs. all the items in the universe.
Take him shopping with you: Take your tot to the stores when you shop for other family members or friends. Talk openly about how and why you make purchasing decisions. I.E. “I would like to get Uncle Bob this gift, but it costs too much, so I found this cool gift, that Bob will like, but it’s in my budget.”
How are you discussing money with your kids this holiday season?
[image via stock.xchng]
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