Teaching Little Ones About the Budget
April 11, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Kid Stuff, children's activity, family
In my life I’ve met two sorts of parents – the type who teach their kids about money and budget from the get-go, and the type who act like the household budget is the devil in disguise; sure to corrupt a small child. I don’t agree with the latter.
I’ve heard all the excuses…
- “I don’t want my kids to worry about money issues – they should be having fun.”
- “There’s no way my kid will understand.”
- “The budget is an adult issue.”
- “It’s too personal to discuss with the kids.”
And so on and so on.
I’m more of the mindset that the family budget is just that; the FAMILY budget. If the family budget is for the goals and good of the family, then kids can and should be involved.
Why kids should be involved with the family budget:
Kids are smart. If you take the time to explain something to them, they will eventually get it. Saying a child won’t get the budget is not an acceptable reason to cut their knowledge stream off.
Kids do worry, but that’s life. Kids worry about all sorts of stuff. (Remember being a kid). While it might seem kinder to never have to say, “We just can’t afford it” that’s not reality, and it’s way better than kids assuming items bought and paid for pop out of thin air. I’m not for telling kids all the down and dirty of a super dire money situation, but I do think kids can handle some real life knowledge. I remember when I was a kid and it always seemed worse to not know what was stressing my mom out if I asked for something we couldn’t afford – a simple “We can’t get it right now because it’s not in the budget” would have made me feel better.
Kids grow up into older kids and adults who spend money. They can either grow up into people who spend money and who know how to budget because they grew up with a budget OR they can grow up into people who spend money and who have no budgeting concepts what-so-ever. Which group would you rather your child grow into?
The budget is not that big a deal – people really overreact about budgeting sometimes, making it into this huge secondary issue, outside the norm of real life. However, a budget is part of every life so incorporating budget know-how casually and regularly is much more normal, more educational, and more practical than making the budget this big old deal.
For some tips asap read: How to totally mess up your kids when it comes to money. Later we’ll look at more ways to involve the kids in the family budget.
What do you think? Do you actively involve your kids in the family budget? Why or why not?
[image via stock.xchng]
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