Money is a complex subject to teach a child. And for good reason, many adults struggle to manage their budget or save money.
Saving is a habit to take because many people develop their lifestyle instead of saving more when their purchasing power increases.
In some families, money is even a subject that only concerns adults and that the children will understand “when they are older”.
But there is no age to start becoming a responsible person. The younger the child is introduced to money, the more concretely he will grasp its value.
The value of silver is linked to its rarity. The less we have, or the more difficult it is to obtain, the more its value increases in our eyes. Thus, a purchase may be considered normal for a person who has a lot, but may be considered a futile expense by a person who lacks it. If money does not bring happiness, running out of it generates daily stress which will be a big obstacle to well-being.
To understand money, it is first necessary to know how to count. It is therefore when he enters the Preparatory Class that it will be possible to introduce your child to learning about money.
Pocket money is a fun and educational way to teach the value of money to your child. It commits the parents to pay a sum of a regular amount at a regular frequency, without possible extension (except exceptional reward).
Thus, the child has to wait to receive money, which simulates the scarcity of money. If he wants to pay for something at €10 and he receives €2 a week, he will have the choice: either to spend his money directly and wait even longer, or to put his weekly coin in a piggy bank and to wait 5 weeks before recovering his loot in order to spend it.
It will be 5 weeks during which he will reflect if what he wants to obtain is worth waiting all this time. This will give him time to think about what he really wants.
If he spends €1 on sweets and is missing €1 for his purchase, make him understand that he preferred to buy sweets and that he will have to wait an additional week to receive a new €2 which will allow him to buy what he wants. He will have to be careful to avoid trivial expenses. He will also have the opportunity to realize that repeated small expenses end up representing a real budget at the end of the month. If he spends 20 cents on sweets at the local tobacconist every evening on his way home from school, he will miss €1 by Friday, which represents half of his pocket money!
Error is an integral part of learning, and a frustrated child is not pleasant to manage.
If your child wants to buy something for which he lacks money, he will have to be patient and learn to overcome frustration. Parents must be strong and compel themselves to respect the contract that they have developed with their child.
However, if it is not recommended according to psychologists to vary the pocket money according to school marks (especially downwards), because the child must understand that he is working for him, an exceptional reward can be paid as a reward for certain household chores or to congratulate him on his good results at school. It will then be preferable to offer him a gift to reward him for a good term or a good school year.
If there is a fun object to teach the value of money to your child, it is the piggy bank. Indeed, it will follow him during his development in order to remind him of the interest of having savings. Because a child who understands the interest of saving will know how to be independent and manage his money responsibly in the future.
The piggy bank can be introduced long before pocket money, even before the child can grasp the value of money. Before the child knows how to count, giving him a small coin here and there will show him the trust you have in him. When he learns to count, he can have fun emptying the yellow coins from his piggy bank in order to make piles and count the total of his kitty.
You can then have fun with him playing change. These are the basic calculations such as additions, subtractions, and multiplications, which he will then be able to integrate thanks to the practice of this fun activity. According to Montessori pedagogy, there is no more powerful engine for learning than play and enthusiasm, it is an educational activity that will allow him to understand complex concepts that would take much longer to inculcate with simple theoretical courses.
In conclusion, instilling the value of money in a child takes time, and that is why it is important to initiate it as early as possible. If you live in a small village, give him the responsibility of getting the bread from the local bakery and making sure that the change given to him is correct.
Different strategies, such as pocket money, a piggy bank, and role-playing, can be used for this purpose. By integrating these fundamental principles, and by manipulating the currency, he will become a responsible person who knows what money is worth, and why one should not give in to all temptations.