Let’s face it, we know we should be teaching young kids about money, but how? Where do you start? Are they too young to know about how to handle money?
Let me say this, they will learn about money regardless of who teaches them, so let’s make it you, their parent! I want to encourage you with this post that you CAN teach them about money and keep it simple.
Our four year old is getting to the stage where we can start showing her how to use money and I am so excited for it! She has a cute little piggy bank she painted with around $30 in there. Her grandparents are very generous!
We’re starting to discuss how we want to show her how to use money with biblical principles. Let me stop right here, before we go any further, we do follow Dave Ramsey’s baby steps and financial peace University.
Money Practices
Let me share with you a few of the ways we enjoy teaching our kids about money.
In our home, we teach them that there are three things you can do with money. You can spend it, save it, or give it and you should be simultaneously doing all three practices.
Looking biblically, we see that money is mentioned many times in the Bible and one of my biggest takeaways is that we must steward it well.
This means that we are ultimately just managers of God’s money, but that we are also to use it wisely, meaning we must pay attention and be intentional with it.
Spend money
Philosophy
Let’s be honest, for some of us, it’s probably the easiest one we do. It’s mentioned in the Bible that we are to care for our households or we are worse than an unbeliever.
So yes, we must spend money in order to buy groceries, pay the bills, fill the car with gas, and keep our families clothed. These are givens that we must do, but we also need to spend money to enjoy ourselves every once in awhile.
For example, my husband and I love to spend money on food. We love trying new restaurants and new types of food. This is what we are to teach our children.
We can spend our money wisely and within reason to enjoy ourselves, but to, most importantly, take care of our homes.
Fun ways to spend money
Give your kids fun ideas to spend money!
We want to show our kids that we can enjoy spending money and enjoy the things that we buy.
Here are a few ideas:
- Toys
- Crafty things
- Sports gear
- Instruments
- Gardening tools
- Puzzles
- Fun food
Save money
Philosophy
The Bible teaches us that we are to be without large chunks of debt. The Bible does encourage, unlike Dave, that we can have a small loan, but it must be paid off quickly.
This is totally contrary to our culture today. Everywhere we turn, you can make payments on basically anything. We must be, as Dave says, “weird” and buy things in cash OR save for items we want to buy.
Right now, we have a savings tracker on our refrigerator for our future house. I explained to our four year old that once we reach the top of the tracker, then we’ll be able to buy a house.
This is a small, but visible way to show her and remind ourselves that we do our best to save and pay cash.
Fun ways to save money
Sometimes, kids can see saving money as boring or not super fun, but let’s show them differently!
Here are a few ways kids can save to make it fun:
- Find an empty jar to put their money into see they can see it grow
- Put a savings tracker on the refrigerator so they can see their progress
- Make a fun challenge to save a certain amount of money each month and
- Turn it into a game or competition to see who can save the most money
Give money
Philosophy
According to Dave, and me personally, this truly is the most fun out of the three practices. This is how we should teach it to our children.
I love that our God is a generous giver. We see over and over again His generosity and since we are made in His image, we are to also be ambassadors of generous giving.
One way we have shown our children to be generous with money, is by tithing to our local church. I’ve told my four year old that God is so good to us that we want to give a portion of our money to Him. We also want her to know that He commands it.
Fun ways to give money
This can and should be one of our favorite ways to handle money. Let’s teach our kids the same!
Here are a few ways we can show our kids that giving money can be fun:
- Tithing
- Charitable giving i.e. salvation army at Christmas
- Buying gifts for Samaritans Purse
- Sending money for those who need relief (hurricane relief/natural disasters)
- Giving money to the homeless (you can get creative with this)
- Giving friends and siblings money as a gift (use discernment)
Final note
Let me add a final little Monica note. Talk to them about money. Dave Ramsey, from Total Money Makeover, says,
“You will either learn to manage money, or the lack of it will manage you.”
I know this sounds very obvious, but invite them in. I’m not saying show them all of your budget, however, do explain to them what we do with money.
They must learn how to manage their money from us, their parents.
When you reach financial goals, tell them about how you did it and why you did. If you don’t teach them about money, someone else will and it will more than likely not match the philosophies you are doing.
This is probably my biggest tip to teaching young kids about money! Bring them along, within reason, and age appropriate.
And finally, a gentle reminder, that money is for the glory of the Lord and He is our richest treasure.
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””
Hebrews 13:5