Teaching kids to be wise consumers requires that we have them reflect on their purchases…before they spend the money. And an easy way to do this is to teach them the Three Money Questions: Do I need it? Can I afford it? Does it add value to my life? Do I need it? This gives kids practice in thinking about the difference between needs and wants. If the item is clearly not a need, and for kids this is the…
Relevance is an unbelievable teaching tool. That’s because it’s much easier to learn something when it’s relevant to our lives. And, often, it’s more fun. Consider a child studying a unit on growing plants in her third grade class. When the teacher starts talking about how healthy plants grow, her little ears perk up. This year, her dad put her in charge of he family vegetable garden, so learning about soil, watering, and weed control was meaningful to her; it…
I was asked to contribute an article to a book being published on kids and financial literacy (will share more on that later). Apart from being thrilled to have been asked, I happen to love writing, so I jumped at the chance. My given topic was ‘kids and budgeting’ and is a little longer than I usually post. But I think you’ll find it easy to read. Here we go: ~ Nice. You’ve got money. And if you’re like most…
There was a huge graphic of a cell phone on the front page of the Sacramento Bee this morning. It was all about the love affair tweens and teens have with their cell phones confirmed in a study by Pew Internet and American Life Project. If you have a tween or teen, this is not front-page news to you. But I thought it the perfect opportunity to re-print here a section from Raised for Richness, my parent kids and money…
Ryan just spent $204.44. He didn’t do it lightly. That’s because he knows just how long it took him to earn that money. His one-day-a-week paper route earns him $11/week. That’s 19 weeks of folding and throwing papers. But he also gets $10/week in allowance. Enough to help him get some of the things he wants, but not everything. (That explains the paper route.) With the allowance, his total time was reduced in half. To a 15-year old, that’s still…