Opportunities to teach children about money present themselves to us day in day out. We don’t necessarily have to put up a formal teaching class to explore teaching children about money. Routine tasks can be great opportunities to show your children how to handle money. Something as simple as involving children in grocery shopping can help them understand planning, avoiding impulse buying, saving and finding the best value. The next time you are in need of groceries you can take them to the supermarket with you and let them hold the list to demonstrate the concept of purposeful shopping. Point out the different brands and the pricing plans you notice. Ask them questions like “Is it better to get 2 items for N200 or 5 items for N400? This will help them learn value and also get to practice their mathematics skills.
Another great opportunity you have is the bank. Even though most of modern banking is done online now, it’s still very important to take your children to a physical branch to show them how it works. Let them watch you make a deposit, or sit down with a bank manager and encourage the child to ask questions. I know a number of schools have this in their curriculum. If your child has had this opportunity you can have an add on whereby you ask questions to understand what has been learnt. You should also answer his or her questions if the transaction is done online. Don’t leave too many gaps unfilled, their minds are full of questions that need to be answered.
A good time to help children open a savings account is by the time they are 8 years old. From then on you can begin to teach the concept of interest and allow them to manage and track its progress online or whenever the alerts for the interest is received. Once they’re old enough to get a job, you can then encourage them to open a current account and also obtain a debit card.
Many other teaching opportunities will present themselves naturally and those are called teachable moments. You need to look out for these yourself. Your child will not be able to grasp all concepts at once but if you keep teaching him or her new and more complicated concepts as they get older he or she will understand them all. Remember it is our job as parents to give them roots and wings, so they can survive and thrive in the real world.
What other opportunities have you tried? Let’s help one another to make the next generation better than ours.
– Gbonjubola Sanni
If you don t teach your kids how to manage money, somebody else will. And that s not a risk you want to take.