In the words of Abba: ‘Money money, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world.’
I recall in secondary school doing a presentation in assembly where I explored if the love of money was a root of all kinds of evil. We all have different perception of money and its value but I am certain that we are all likely to agree that money/financial management is an important aspect that we need to teach our children.
Teaching our children about money helps them to learn/ develop the following skills:
- Accountability
- Responsibility
- Organisation
- Saving
- Appreciation
- Values/Morals
- Impulsive spending
- Management
- Patience
- Sharing.
- Debt, avoiding it and its management.
- Rational thinking.
It is good practice to teach children about money/financial management from a young age depending on the child’s level of understanding. Waiting for instance until the child is a teenager may in some cases be too late as the child may have formed his/her own habit some of which the parents may frown upon. At that stage it may involve helping the child unlearn some of the unpleasant habits instead of building on the good practices in situations where that the child had been taught at an early stage.
A good approach is to start teaching the basics about money when the child is young and can understand what is being taught.