FOTF-Logo-Stretch-Color.png
Search

Kids and Money

Your kids can learn more about their monetary boundaries with your help.

Money is one of the most concrete ways you can teach life lessons. By training your children in simple, tangible ways, you will set them up for success — with money and possibly in life.

I raised five children who had five different money styles. My oldest wanted only designer labels. The second hoarded everything. My third couldn’t stand the rigidity of a budget. The fourth wanted to give it all away. And my youngest could make a buck doing anything.

Perhaps your children’s money styles are unique, too. With so many different personalities, teaching our kids financial wisdom can seem complicated and confusing. Where do we start?

1. Your finances

We need to remember that good financial skills are more easily caught than taught. All the talk in the world won’t produce results unless parents model the behaviors they are looking for. Do you wish to see stewardship, generosity or prudence in your child? If you are not pursuing those traits in your own life, your children won’t act them out. Children don’t listen well, but they observe like scientists and mimic like first-rate impersonators!

2. Wise stewardship 

We should teach the five disciplines of wise stewardship: recognize that God owns it all; spend less than you make; avoid debt; maintain savings; and set long-term goals. In our home, we used the “envelope system” to help our children learn good stewardship. Our children all had a set of envelopes labeled “save,” “spend,” “tithe,” “clothes” and “gifts (for family and friends).” Each month, they divided their income into those five envelopes.

3. Practice

By having limited resources and by spending their own money, the kids learned, in a safe environment, the lessons that you and I learn from our budgeting successes and failures. And my wife and I were their advocates in the process rather than their adversaries.

Because money is tangible, it is one of the simplest parenting tools available. You may wish, for example, to teach your children that God is in charge. By training them to tithe, you tangibly point them to God’s ownership of their resources. Or you may want to teach them to recognize boundaries. By using the envelope system, you show them that once money is spent, it is gone for good, and they learn the concept of monetary boundaries.

About the Author

Read More About:

You May Also Like

A young couple looking to resolve a conflict in their marriage. The man tries to explain as the wife covers her face in frustration.
Conflict Resolution

How to Resolve Conflict in Marriage

How do you resolve conflict in marriage? Consider these eight strategies based on God’s design for effective conflict resolution.

A husband and wife sit on a couch counting their individual incomes. The man holds a fan of 100 dollar bills, but the woman counts coins. It is clear there is financial abuse in their marriage.
Abuse

What Is Financial Abuse in Marriage?

Darby Strickland, a counselor and teacher at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation, defines financial abuse in marriage and offers advice for helping wives who are oppressed in this way.

photo of a map, various travel props, and the hands of a couple pointing at the map and planning their vacation
Family Finances

How to Plan Your Vacation and Improve Your Marriage

What if planning your summer vacation had a bonus? What if planning your time away could strengthen your marriage? Here are three tips to build your marriage as you plan your vacation.

Insert CTA Content in New Section Below