Teach Children How to Value Money

I have 3 children age 20, 18 and 12. Teaching them how to handle money was and is an on going process.

Right from a very young age, we would let them have their own pocket money and teach them to budget, i.e. their daily allowance is all they will get and no more. When we find that they can handle the limitation on how much they can spend and even better if they can save, we will give them weekly allowances in a bigger lump sum.

Monitoring how they spend and encouraging them to put aside (save) money for toys/gadgets/meals/activities they like and that they can pay it themselves without asking us for it is what we did. They have to save for items they want. If we give in to them they will never appreciate the value of money and that they may think money is very easy to come by.

Don't give in to tantrums
We would not buy everything they want, every time they want it. If they throw a tantrum we will not give in. They must be told in no uncertain terms that a no means NO.

If they throw tantrums in shops or supermarket, pick them up and look them in the eyes, and tell them no firmly. Do not give in. It they persist, take them out to the carpark and in the car tell them no firmly. If they persist, we will punish by withdrawing that day's or week's allowances.

But Does Money not come out of the Wall?
The problem is our children often see us taking cash out of a wall or an ATM fixed onto the wall of a bank or shopping mall. From that they think we can get money any time of the day anywhere. They do not see our efforts in doing business or efforts put into our day job at office.

One way to overcome that misconception of money is by making them earn. We will at times pay them for doing house hold chores, if they want extra pocket money. As they grow older, especially during high school years, we will encourage them to work part time, during their vacation. This will make them appreciate earning money is not as easy as they see their parents taking money out from ATM anytime of the day. By working to get cash will educate them that one have to put in efforts in order to get paid. Sometimes they have to work hard to get money.