It will come as no surprise to parents that my 5-year-old, who was so hot to trot for a Geotrax “Sir John,” spent his money on the first thing that caught his eye at Target — a Bakugan thingy whose world neither he nor I yet grasp, but that made his kiddy senses tingle.
The June issue of Money has a great piece on “unspoiling your kids” that includes a handy age-by-age chart (scroll down a bit) of what lessons kids can handle, from the book, “The Financially Intelligent Parent. It’s the first resource I’ve seen that talks about starting money education with kids as young as 5, which is, at least in our house, clearly when they seem to start taking an interest!
For ages 5-9, the authors recommend:
- assigning simple chores
- starting a weekly allowance
- talking about money values and decisions, and
- introducing the idea of charity.
Which can only mean one dreaded thing: Time to get out the star charts.
No related posts.
Hi Sara,
My kids have had an allowance since they were 7 or 8. I have to say – they’re very careful when they’re spending their own money. Much more so than when they’re spending mine!
And, it is nice to not have to say that they can’t get something — either they have the money for it, or they don’t. At first, we did have to sort through just what was supposed to be covered by their allowance, and what Mom and Dad would cover. We’ve been at it a few years, so we’ve pretty much got it down…although we still disagree from time to time! But, better to discuss all this and have them realize that there are limits, versus them feeling like spending decisions are out of their control and arbitrary.
Karen