By: Barbara Desmarais
Recently I attended a class given by Debra Pankow, Ph.D. , North Dakota State University Family Economics Specialist. She provided a lot of interesting insights regarding children and money and included links for parents for further information.
She emphasized that most of what children will learn about money is by the way their parents manage money. If we’re good money managers so will they be. She encourages us to share decisions around money with our children so they get a clear idea of what our values are and why we’re making the decisions we’re making. Let them know why we’ve decided to buy something or not to buy it and how we save money.
In order for children to learn about money they have to have money. Debra supports giving a monthly or weekly allowance and enough so they have some to spend, some to save and some to share. The amount we give is very individual depending on what we’re comfortable with and what we can afford. She said some people prefer to call it a pay cheque rather than an allowance. She discourages payment for regular household chores but endorses payment for things we would pay someone else to do. The purpose of an allowance is to learn about money. . Research says that you end up spending less money on a child when you give him/her an allowance than if you give money when they ask.
Allow children to make some mistakes with their money Debra says and praise them for making good choices. Money provides numerous teaching opportunities. We can begin teaching them when they’re very young the difference between wants and needs. You’ll be surprised by how many times those things they think they really want aren’t as valuable anymore when they know they have to pay for them themselves. My children have had a monthly allowance for many years and I can say for sure it has meant far few arguments once they realized they had to pay for any non- essentials themselves. I’m often impressed at the decisions they make around spending. They’ve made lots of mistakes but with each mistake they’ve learned some important lessons.
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on Monday, October 24th, 2005 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Articles.
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By: Barbara Desmarais
Recently I attended a class given by Debra Pankow, Ph.D. , North Dakota State University Family Economics Specialist. She provided a lot of interesting insights regarding children and money and included links for parents for further information.
She emphasized that most of what children will learn about money is by the way their parents manage money. If we’re good money managers so will they be. She encourages us to share decisions around money with our children so they get a clear idea of what our values are and why we’re making the decisions we’re making. Let them know why we’ve decided to buy something or not to buy it and how we save money.
In order for children to learn about money they have to have money. Debra supports giving a monthly or weekly allowance and enough so they have some to spend, some to save and some to share. The amount we give is very individual depending on what we’re comfortable with and what we can afford. She said some people prefer to call it a pay cheque rather than an allowance. She discourages payment for regular household chores but endorses payment for things we would pay someone else to do. The purpose of an allowance is to learn about money. . Research says that you end up spending less money on a child when you give him/her an allowance than if you give money when they ask.
Allow children to make some mistakes with their money Debra says and praise them for making good choices. Money provides numerous teaching opportunities. We can begin teaching them when they’re very young the difference between wants and needs. You’ll be surprised by how many times those things they think they really want aren’t as valuable anymore when they know they have to pay for them themselves. My children have had a monthly allowance for many years and I can say for sure it has meant far few arguments once they realized they had to pay for any non- essentials themselves. I’m often impressed at the decisions they make around spending. They’ve made lots of mistakes but with each mistake they’ve learned some important lessons.
This entry was posted
on Monday, October 24th, 2005 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Articles.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.