As a child, I worked for my dad and I remembered having to count money, pay money into bank and have to withdraw when we needed it again. We had to stand on a queue and be attended to by a teller staff in the bank. Things have changed so fast in such a short while. Modern children, as well as some adults, may not see the inside of a bank anymore. We now handle money virtually, swiping for movie tickets, online transferring for clothes, using pin numbers of VISA and Mastercards for food at the restaurant, etc. Now we check balances online and manage our complicated budgeting in our heads or on our gadgets. We also pay in or take money out of a magical hole in the wall (that’s the ATM) whenever we need cash or have too much of it. My son usually says I should go to the ATM whenever he wants something badly. As far as he is concerned, you get money from there whenever you need it. As adults too, the notion of cash as a physical object is becoming a memory of our youth.

How then can our modern children become smart customers and savers? How can they learn about money when it is utterly intangible to them?

Here are some tips:

1. As soon as you children can count numbers, start talking about money to them. Don’t assume that because they are little they can’t understand. They do!

2. Let your children be involved with using money. Let them pay in shops, watch you bank online, help at the cashpoint when making purchases and also handle an allowance they can manage for their own personal purchases.

3. Let your children make mistakes and take all the risks now. Interestingly, children learn through play, repetition and observation. Better you have a 10 year old who wastes thousands of Naira now than an adult who ends up with large debts because he never got the opportunity to get it right early enough. Seems helping them now is a good retirement plan. Or don’t you think so? 🙂

Remember your ultimate job as a parent is to help your child develop into someone who is independent and self-sufficient when he or she is set to leave home at 18 years or later. I sure want my children to be responsible and have a financially stable future. What about you?

– Gbonjubola Sanni