Do your children understand the value of a dollar? Many kids do not. There are things that parents can do to help their children, and teenagers, to get a basic grasp of money. They can also learn a little bit about business.
Forbes has a really interesting article titled “13 Ways to Help Your Children Understand Business”. It was written by Dan Matthews, and posted on May 30, 2014. He gathered tips that will help parents to encourage their kids to become interested in finance and business. Each tip came from someone who is involved in business.
One of those tips is something that parents can incorporate into any grocery shopping trip. Ask your child or teen to work out the best deals. Make them really look at prices, the discounts offered on a coupon, and the quantity of comparable products. Have your kids calculate the best offer.
Some kids find this kind of “real world math” to be fun to do! You may create a coupon-clipping child or teen as a result. The ability to find the best deal is a skill that will carry them through life. They can use it when they grow up and leave home and need to buy groceries on a budget. Or, they can take those skills into the business world and find the best deals for their business.
Another suggestion is to make your teen get a job. This may be easier said than done. Even so, it is good for a teen to learn how to fill out an application. Teach your teen how to create a resume.
If your teen does get a job he or she will be learning some valuable skills – no matter what the job is. Your teen will have to learn how to get along with his or her co-workers (even the ones that aren’t particularly nice). Your teen will learn how to read a schedule, to negotiate time off, and to get tasks done in a timely manner. This is one way to instill a good work ethic in a teen.
Parents can also implement a system in which a child or teen is paid by the parent for doing certain chores. It’s a bit more like a “job” than an allowance. Keep a written record of what chores were completed over the course of a week.
Make sure you pay your child when promised. It could be once a week or at the end of each day. Have a discussion about how your child earned that money. Make it clear that your child or teen can use that money to buy the toy, video game, or item of clothing that he or she wants (but that is out of your budget). You are helping your teen understand that money doesn’t “grow from trees”. It requires hard work.
Image by 401(K) 2012 on Flickr.
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