How to Teach Your Child to Save Money
Consider beginning as early as two years old., Begin to introduce your child to different forms of money when he is three and older., Explain to your child that you should only buy what is necessary., Start giving your child an allowance., Role play...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider beginning as early as two years old.
At the age of two, many children begin to enjoy doing small chores.
Practicing these small chores will prepare your child for later on in life when you begin to give him an allowance for doing chores.
Examples of chores you can practice with your two year old include:
Having your child put away his toys.
Having your child ‘help’ you in the kitchen. -
Step 2: Begin to introduce your child to different forms of money when he is three and older.
At this stage, your child may not fully understand money but you can slowly introduce to him the name of different coins and currencies.
However, adult supervision is highly advised to avoid dangers like swallowing of coins.
Hold up a coin, like a penny, nickel, dime, or quarter, and tell your child the name of the coin. , When your child turns two, he will already know what he wants a lot of the time, even if he cannot vocalize it properly.
For example, when you pass a toy store, your child may indicate that he wants a particular toy.
Make it clear to your child that going inside the store does not always mean that you have to buy something; there are times when simply ‘window shopping’ is the better option. , When your child reaches the age of four or five, consider beginning to give him an allowance each week or each month.
This allowance can be small amounts of cash.
This may also be a time to begin having your child do chores, though the chores do not necessarily need to be associated with the allowance you give your child at this time.
These chores could include:
Making his bed look neat (it might be a little hard for him to make his bed entirely on his own).
Putting away his toys.
Picking out his outfit for the day. , Try role-playing games like pretending you are at a store or restaurant, to begin to teach your child about money.
Make fake money, or purchase some fake money and set up a table with the goods you plan to “sell”.
Pretend that you are the owner of the store and your child is hoping to buy something.
Once you have played the game that way for a little while, reverse the roles so that your child can get a basic understanding of the concept of buying and selling items.
The ‘goods’ that you ‘sell’ can be groceries that you already bought, or your child’s toys.
You can even consider getting your child an apron or uniform to wear when he is the person selling the goods.
Wear costumes and make the game fun, as well as informative. , Create a piggy bank for your child to store his allowance in when he begins receiving allowance.
You can use old glass jars or other types of containers to create these piggy banks.
One option is to make multiple jars and have your child label each jar with the thing that he wants to buy using the money he is going to save.
This could be an expensive toy, or simply his favorite candy.
Another option is to label the jars with the words “Saving”, “Spending” and “Sharing”.
The saving jar would be the jar your child puts money into so that he can buy something expensive later on.
Likewise, the spending jar is money that your child can spend when he needs to, and the sharing jar is for buying a present for someone else. -
Step 3: Explain to your child that you should only buy what is necessary.
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Step 4: Start giving your child an allowance.
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Step 5: Role play with fake money.
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Step 6: Make jars for your child to save money in (for ages 3 to 5).
Detailed Guide
At the age of two, many children begin to enjoy doing small chores.
Practicing these small chores will prepare your child for later on in life when you begin to give him an allowance for doing chores.
Examples of chores you can practice with your two year old include:
Having your child put away his toys.
Having your child ‘help’ you in the kitchen.
At this stage, your child may not fully understand money but you can slowly introduce to him the name of different coins and currencies.
However, adult supervision is highly advised to avoid dangers like swallowing of coins.
Hold up a coin, like a penny, nickel, dime, or quarter, and tell your child the name of the coin. , When your child turns two, he will already know what he wants a lot of the time, even if he cannot vocalize it properly.
For example, when you pass a toy store, your child may indicate that he wants a particular toy.
Make it clear to your child that going inside the store does not always mean that you have to buy something; there are times when simply ‘window shopping’ is the better option. , When your child reaches the age of four or five, consider beginning to give him an allowance each week or each month.
This allowance can be small amounts of cash.
This may also be a time to begin having your child do chores, though the chores do not necessarily need to be associated with the allowance you give your child at this time.
These chores could include:
Making his bed look neat (it might be a little hard for him to make his bed entirely on his own).
Putting away his toys.
Picking out his outfit for the day. , Try role-playing games like pretending you are at a store or restaurant, to begin to teach your child about money.
Make fake money, or purchase some fake money and set up a table with the goods you plan to “sell”.
Pretend that you are the owner of the store and your child is hoping to buy something.
Once you have played the game that way for a little while, reverse the roles so that your child can get a basic understanding of the concept of buying and selling items.
The ‘goods’ that you ‘sell’ can be groceries that you already bought, or your child’s toys.
You can even consider getting your child an apron or uniform to wear when he is the person selling the goods.
Wear costumes and make the game fun, as well as informative. , Create a piggy bank for your child to store his allowance in when he begins receiving allowance.
You can use old glass jars or other types of containers to create these piggy banks.
One option is to make multiple jars and have your child label each jar with the thing that he wants to buy using the money he is going to save.
This could be an expensive toy, or simply his favorite candy.
Another option is to label the jars with the words “Saving”, “Spending” and “Sharing”.
The saving jar would be the jar your child puts money into so that he can buy something expensive later on.
Likewise, the spending jar is money that your child can spend when he needs to, and the sharing jar is for buying a present for someone else.
About the Author
Christina Gordon
Specializes in breaking down complex home improvement topics into simple steps.
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