From my interaction with parents and my short experience as one, I have come to understand that many of us want to raise children who are happy and successful. We, however, mistakenly think that money is the key to that happiness and success so we work long and hard to make a lot of it to the detriment of raising our children properly. The fact remains that the amount of money you possess as a parent has little to do with how your children will turn out. The attitudes and actions you portray about money and other issues has more impact than you can imagine.

Money is a survival skill in the jungle of the economy and it is also about values. As such, we need to teach it more and better. There is also a direct connection between how we think about money and the values our children will embrace. Teaching children about money is a fantastic lesson that needs to be done in the home.

On the positive side, parents who exhibit healthy money behaviors communicate strong values to their children. When you talk openly and constructively about financial issues, avoid quarreling about money and use your financial resources to help the disadvantaged, your children will learn lessons about respect, love and giving. If you want to teach children virtues like “modesty, thrift and patience, you can do it by giving your children an allowance and helping them to save and give. Making children save teaches them early on about the trade-offs between spending now and spending later. Making them give teaches them the true value of money, the needs of others, and how to research worthwhile causes to give to.

On the negative side, “bad” money behaviors will distort the values you want to communicate; they also make your children tremendously unhappy. Repeated fights about money may communicate to children that money isn’t worth having because it is the cause of anger, hostility, resentment and tension. When parents are workaholics who are rarely home, they communicate that making money and supporting an affluent lifestyle are more important than having meaningful family time.

As parents we need to learn how to emphasize the positive impact of money and minimize the negative one. This is because money itself is neither good nor bad; it’s what we do with it and what we teach our children about it that is important.

It’s obvious that the older generation has overlooked financial education but things can not continue that way. Children today have to deal with massive financial problems earlier in life than previous generations did not face. Outrageous cost of education, low employment rates and taking care of more than 1 generation from meager incomes are some of the issues. We need to ensure we communicate good values about money and this can only be achieved when we become aware ourselves and also make the effort to pass the information on. How financially intelligent you are will define what the next generation will do with money. Learn it now so you can teach it.

Do have a beautiful week!

– Gbonjubola Sanni