Raising Financially Fit Kids

One of our goals as parents is to teach our children about money. Personally, I didn't "get" it until recently and I still feel like I have miles to go. My parents are very wise financially--they have amazing credit scores, pay off their debt, have savings, investments--and I really admire them.

However, they didn't really talk to us about money. They were rather overindulgent and wanted to give us what they didn't have growing up, but honestly it didn't help me when I became independent. I've had to learn about credit and saving the hard way so I'm attempting to help my children into a better transition to adulthood and independence.



I found a great book called "Raising Financially Fit Kids." I bought it one day out of the bargain bin when Maisie was only 2 years old for less than $5. I've always been the type to try and "look ahead" and buy things in the bargain bins with information I'll need to educate the girls; this is probably the best purchase I've made in such a way.

I first read it a couple years ago and I was pleasantly surprised at the information. I've always thought an allowance was about earning money around the house, but this book presents it in a completely different light. It outlines that an allowance is a way to teach about money, not pay your children for chores that are part of being a family.

I could go into detail, but that would take more time than I have right now :) I highly recommend the book; I love it! Not everyone will, but I think it makes perfect sense.

We started step 1 with Maisie today. Our schoolwork was learning about the value of money and where it comes from. I asked Maisie "Where do we get our money?" She said, "The bank!" I asked her how the money gets to the bank and she was at a loss. That's the mystery I think many kids miss--HOW does the money get there?

We talked at length about how I work at home and I don't get paid. It's very VALUABLE work, but no one is paying me factual money for it. Then we talked about what daddy does and how he earns the money from a company by working hard. We talked about how the money gets to the bank via daddy's paycheck so that we can use the money to spend (pay bills, buy food and clothes and some other fun things) and to save for emergencies. We also talked about charity and how we use some of our money to give food to the less fortunate or donate clothing.

Then we created our money jars. I didn't want to leave Dani out, so she made one as well to put her money in when Papa, Nana, or we give her pocket change. Maisie then made her 3 jars: Spend, Save and Give. We talked about how much to put in each and what we might do with them. I also drew (poorly) pictures of the money she is to put in each until she gets the hang of it.



Eventually, I want to take Maisie to the pottery place and make real pottery jars with her, but that will have to wait for a special mom/Maisie day in the future.

The book also outlines money personalities and how to help them develop. When I asked Maisie about dividing up her money into the jars, she wanted to put it all in the save jar. I'm curious to see if she really is a hoarder or if she doesn't realize she will have her own money to spend--then how will she react with money in her wallet to spend?

And as our Math lesson, we talked about the value of a penny, nickel, dime and quarter comparing them to how many pennies each are worth. We'll have to work on that one more--she was a little confused that a tiny dime is worth more than a big nickel :) But aren't most people? LOL