Ask any parent and they’ll all say the same thing: raising a child can be backbreaking work. Not only are you expected to nurture these tiny balls of energy and accommodate their needs, but you also have to educate them about the ways of the world in a language that they understand.
One crucial life skill parents should teach their children is saving money. Allowing your child to understand the value of money helps them develop an astuteness towards finance in their later years.
That said, your lecture approach to the subject matters quite a bit. Explaining the concept of financial literacy to a child as if they were an adult can make concepts fly over their head. It can also be dull and unengaging to the tiny tot, which can be a waste of time for both parties.
Instead, you should seek to speak in their language if you want to teach them about saving money. There are multiple ways you can creatively instil the concept of money saving in your child, whether it’s a hands-on approach, storytelling, or roleplay.
Let’s look at some extra-fun ways you can teach your kid about money saving.
1. Encourage Saving with A Jar or Piggy Bank
When talking to a child, you should actively try to avoid talking in abstract terms and topics. Younger-aged kids don’t have fully developed brains just yet, and talking about money saving isn’t always going to be something they can (or want to) understand.
That said, there’s one visual method of money saving that even young elementary-aged children can comprehend: piggy banks and saving jars!
These two methods—which require the occasional deposit of coins and cash in the storage item—offer children a visual and tangible way of saving money, making it immediately more relatable.
Besides being a good money-saving method, using these modes of storing cash can be useful for helping your child develop patience and delayed gratification.
Tracking the growth of money in a jar or piggy bank takes a while, but the satisfaction of knowing that the jar is finally full can provide a great sense of achievement.
Another neat aspect of jars and piggy banks is their customisability. If your child is artsy or wants to personalise their jar, they can! They can paint on it, put stickers, and even make collage art on the money holder.
See: ‘Getting Kids Into the Savings Habit’
2. Host A Money-Saving Competition
If your child has a competitive spirit, then consider turning the act of saving money into a family game.
The rules are ultimately up to you, but you can bend the rules in favour of the concepts you want to teach your child.
For instance, if you want to get your children to start saving X amount every week, then consider setting that as the weekly goal and having the entire family join in. Then by the end of the week, see who has met their goals, crown the winner, and celebrate!
Of course, make sure that the prize is something that can motivate your child to carry on with the game. It can be a treat in their favourite restaurant or more screen time on their tablet.
Active participation in these sorts of games can reinforce positive attitudes towards money for children. Furthermore, having the entire family in on this game can also help create a commitment to saving money for not just the kid, but also for mum and dad!
3. Go on Educational Shopping Trips
In your next routine run to the supermarket, consider letting your child tag along as part of a fun and educational experience. You can turn your grocery run into a valuable and engaging lesson for them.
To start, brief them about the grocery budget and shopping list—and try to have them look for the list of items in the store without exceeding the budget.
Ideally, you should collaborate and try to get as many items as you can from the list without going over budget. If you find yourself over the budget, you can assess together whether to remove some items or leave it as is.
During these trips, explain your thought process and how you’ve come to the conclusion of purchasing or not purchasing a certain product. This can be an educational experience for them and lay the groundwork for them to potentially mirror these good decisions in the future.
Whatever you decide to do, going on educational shopping trips is a practical way to get your child to get real-life experience on how to budget money. This, in turn, can help them make smarter financial decisions when they grow older.
4. Teach Through Roleplay
A good way to teach your child the concept of money saving is by roleplaying.
Roleplay helps facilitate your child’s understanding of different perspectives, motivations, emotions, and social dynamics—which can be applicable in financially-driven and other real-world situations. It also helps them improve their communication and cooperation skills.
For instance, let’s assume that you’re letting your child take up the role of a fruit stand owner. You can act as different people that your child can interact with a supplier, a customer, a business partner, the bank, and so on.
When taking up these roles, have your child pretend that they’re the fruit stand owner. Prepare some agendas that your child can accept, reject, or renegotiate—just like how it is in reality.
Doing this can help them understand the business world and also prepare them to know how to balance social dynamics, get their way, and other vital money and life skills.
Let them feel the brunt of the consequences too, like how missing a monthly rental payment can mean their fruit stand’s closure. Be sure to be gentle when giving the bad news though, and always frame it as a learning experience for them.
5. Play Financial Board Games
Financial board games like Monopoly are great ways for kids to learn money management. Unlike traditional board games, financial ones are generally more realistic and focus more on leveraging in-game finances to mimic real-life situations, all in a safe environment.
Think of concepts like earning money, paying expenses, and building income-generating assets. These are both concepts in the real world and financial board games like Monopoly.
These games provide the backdrop for kids to weigh risks, make value judgments, negotiate for their benefit, and so on. While there’s certainly luck involved, the planning and strategy aspect of the game is still very much a critical component for winning.
The best part is that board games generally offer a fun bonding time with the family—especially for kids who are patient enough to learn how to play.
