Please, Teach Your Children About Money!

We often hear that the years from birth to age 6 are of prime importance to a child's brain development. According to Doris Bergen of the Association for Childhood Education International (www.acei.org), "The brain is at 90% of its adult weight by age 6." Therefore, parents are encouraged to make sure their children have an enriching environment during those first six years of life, whether through child care and preschool arrangements or simply at home.

I work in a Title I elementary school, which means that we have a high percentage of low income families. 72 percent of our students are in the free lunch program. Having a low-income family doesn't necessarily mean that the child's home environment is lacking -- my own family is low income, but my kids get plenty of enrichment and are way above average in schoolwork, and I know of other families in which money is not the problem. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, poverty and lack of early childhood enrichment are correlated, and I see this often in school.

Our first grade classes are currently working on money math, so this is where I'm seeing a lot of children who could have been better prepared by their parents. In fact, even some of the children with very involved parents are having trouble with the money math! And it's not even the actual math that is the problem. Many of the children can't recognize one coin from another, name the coins, or state the value in cents of each coin

This is something that all parents could help their children with, and it doesn't even take a lot of time and effort. Do you have your kids with you at the store? Show them the coins you're using to pay for something, or the coins you're getting back in change. Have them repeat the names to you, or tell you the names if they already know them. Have them name the values of the coins, and help you count them.

If you can't do this at the store, take five or ten minutes and do it at home! Make a game out of it. Bury coins in sand, and dig for treasure, naming and counting the coins. Or use coins to play "store" at home.

Do some money sorting and matching -- print out pictures of coins, and have your child match real coins to the pictures. Matching is also an essential pre-reading skill. According to the Child Literacy Centre (www.childliteracy.com) "When we read, part of what we do involves matching. Children learn to match shapes, patterns, letters, and finally, words." Matching money will teach both pre-math and pre-reading skills -- double whammy!

First grade teachers will be working with your child on money math, but they can't give your child the one on one attention that you can. If you help your child ahead of time, then he or she will have less trouble meeting content standards at school. Here in Oregon, the state's content standards for first graders include identifying, ordering, and comparing coins by making equivalent amounts up to 25 cents, and making change for amounts to 25 cents (http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/standards/). These aren't easy skills to master -- I've been watching! Your child will have the best chance if you help him or her learn the basics of coins before first grade.