I was at a debate last week where secondary school students had to support the motion that parents, teachers and the society are very instrumental to building a financially literate next generation. Interestingly the team that won were saying parents are the most important. The other teams also had their own strong points of why it should be teachers or the society.

Since my book on financial intelligence for kids came out, I have witnessed various reactions with respect to teaching children about money. I have also met many children who are already having very skewed mindsets about money. This must have been as a result of what they have witnessed or heard their parents say. It’s not their fault. It is also because their parents are not financially intelligent. One 9 year old in a school I went to sometimes ago said she will rather have a loving family than money. I wondered where she got that from. How can love be shown without money in this world of ours? I asked her whether she will be glad if her parents told her they love her but cannot pay her school fees or even feed her. Why can’t she have it all? Many of us have taught our kids to settle for less because we do not know better and also because of the limitations we have faced in life.

Financial intelligence is very vital for every individual, children inclusive. In addition to teaching it at home it is imperative that it is also introduced in the school curriculum. We all go to school because we want to make a living and we never get to learn about what takes us there. Isn’t that funny? Introducing financial education in the school curriculum will help in teaching our children right from the start. It is the best way to help them build their knowledge and understand how to manage their personal finances later in life. Whatever they learn in school in their early years will also provide a basis for future learning. One thing we need to understand as adults is that young people are encountering money earlier and earlier in life compared to us. A survey conducted in 2009 found that the average age at which children first have their own mobile phone is an incredible eight years old, while the average age that children borrow to purchase items online is just 10. It would be no surprise if the average ages have dropped even further since then.

In addition to these trends our increasingly cashless society, the development of new technology and recent use of smartphones and tablets by children are reasons why the case for financial education from an early age becomes incontestable.

As parents we need to begin to work with our children’s schools starting from primary schools to recommend that the curriculum be amended to ensure the children get financial education right. We need to ensure that our children can build up their money knowledge and skills as they progress through the education system. This process has started in UK and US and those of us in other parts of the world should not be left out.

Photo Credits: Don Hammond/Design Pics/Corbis

– Gbonjubola Sanni