{"id":583,"date":"2010-05-12T06:54:13","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T14:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kidnexions.wordpress.com\/?p=583"},"modified":"2010-05-12T06:54:13","modified_gmt":"2010-05-12T14:54:13","slug":"teaching-kids-to-be-wise-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=583","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Kids to be Wise Consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Teaching kids to be wise consumers requires that we have them reflect on their purchases&#8230;before they spend the money.  And an easy way to do this is to teach them the <em>Three Money Questions<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>Do I need it?<br \/>\nCan I afford it?<br \/>\nDoes it add value to my life?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do I need it?<\/strong>  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 majority of their spending, then at least they have acknowledged that they are pursuing and willing to plunk money down for a want.  Which leads us to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can I afford it?  <\/strong>This one is simple \u2013 if you don&#8217;t have the money, you can&#8217;t afford it.  This is a good opportunity to help your child create a goal and work towards it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Does it add value to my life?  <\/strong>This takes time to learn.  Most kids will insist that they can&#8217;t live without the particular item\/experience and will move forward with their purchase.  Revisit their decision after several days or weeks by having them reflect on whether or not their choice truly enhanced their life.<\/p>\n<p>The key to the<em> Three Money Questions <\/em>is to model them with your kids.  When considering a purchase, talk through the questions out loud so that your kids can \u201csee\u201d how decision-making happens.  It may seem silly at first, but if we want our kids to learn how to problem-solve through a potential purchase, they&#8217;re going to need to hear how that happens.<\/p>\n<p>If your child is considering an expensive purchase, a good strategy is to have her create a pros and cons list.  This helps to clarify her thinking in a very visual way.  And it&#8217;s an unbelievably wonderful tool that she&#8217;ll be able to carry with her beyond simple money purchases.  Should I marry this guy or not?  Let me make a pros\/cons list.  Okay, I&#8217;m kidding, but you get the idea.  \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teaching kids to be wise consumers requires that we have them reflect on their purchases&#8230;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&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=583\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,17],"tags":[21,22,23,26,228,33],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids-and-spending","category-teaching-kids-financial-literacy","tag-karyn-hodgens","tag-kidnexions","tag-kids-allowance","tag-kids-and-money","tag-teaching-kids-financial-literacy","tag-teaching-kids-money-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Teaching Kids to be Wise Consumers - Karyn&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.familymathnight.com\/blog\/?p=583\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching Kids to be Wise Consumers - Karyn&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teaching kids to be wise consumers requires that we have them reflect on their purchases&#8230;before they spend the money. 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