How can I teach my child the value of money? How can he know that Mommy and Daddy work hard to provide me with everything I want? How can he not be selfish or stingy? or stingy. How can I teach him to save money and invest his savings in a beneficial and positive way? These are all questions that parents ask and need answers to.
Let’s start by saying that money is an essential part of life and daily transactions. But the most important thing we need to focus on from the first moment we teach our children the value of money is to understand that it is a “means” not an “end”, it is a means through which we get what we want, a means that makes our lives easier and better, but not a “goal” in itself. But not a “goal” in itself, otherwise the child will grow up and learn that the most important thing in the world is “money” and it doesn’t matter where it comes from or how it is obtained. As we teach our children values as well as skills, we need to make sure they understand the importance of money and its significance, and we explain to them through simple stories about how money began to be used, the stages of its development, and that it was invented to facilitate transactions between human beings.
– As soon as your child learns to count, he or she begins to learn the importance and value of money. Before that, it’s just a piece of colored paper. He can’t tell a big coin from a small one. The first thing we need to do is teach our children to count. Adding and subtracting small and simple numbers, and we can do this through games that are downloaded on computers and mobile phones even before the child enters school.
– Use “imaginative play” as a way to teach your child the value of money. For example, he makes himself a merchant and sells you a commodity, and you start asking him, “How much is it?” and if you take a “number” from it, it’s still how much? You exchange roles so that he remains the buyer and performs the same steps, so he starts to learn the principles of dealing with money and local currencies.
– Start teaching your child to save small amounts of money in small periods of time and make it feel like a game you play together. This means that you agree with him to save a certain amount of money from his allowance for a week, and at the end of the week, you will open the piggy bank and see how much he saves, and if he saves this amount, you will supplement it and give him something he likes (a toy/book/space), so that he has a real motivation to save and knows that it is not a goal in itself, but through it, he will achieve a more important goal for him.
– Open a savings account in a bank and let your child watch his savings grow gradually. Start making plans with him and help him make plans to spend these savings on useful things. For example, when he asks you for something, you say, “Let’s see how much you have right now, and what you need to get is how much. How much is left? Then you think about how long it will take you to save the rest of the money, and there is nothing wrong with helping him with a small loan or a grant.
– In the previous point, I mentioned that you can help your child with a small loan or a non-refundable grant. It’s really important that when you lend money to your child, they understand that it’s an “advance” that means “debt” and they have to pay it back, no matter how long it takes. No matter how long it takes, don’t forget or compromise. He must understand that as long as he promises to pay back the money, he must pay it back, even if he pays it in installments, and he must understand the difference between giving him the money he needs and lending it to him.
– When you go to the supermarket or mall together to buy groceries, clothes or toys, it is very important that you set the amount of money your child is allowed to spend during the day. No matter how small or big the number is, it must not exceed it in any way, no matter how small the difference is, because this will teach him how to adjust his needs according to his possibilities, and it will also teach him an important thing, which is “delayed gratification” or what is called “delayed gratification”, meaning when he still wants such things and his possibilities do not allow him to choose the most important needs and postpone the rest for another time.This will make him grow up to withstand the repeated frustrations of life and understand that not everything we wish for can be obtained.
– It is very important that you respond to the child’s requests no more than 80% of the time. For every 10 things they ask for, apologize for at least two of them. Even if you can fulfill them. This way you are not depriving him, but teaching him to respect your possibilities and understand that sometimes you can’t provide all the requirements and that he has to wait or do “delayed gratification” as we said before without getting angry or upset, and little by little he will start to learn this.
– Try as much as possible when shopping with your child, who is just starting to learn the value of money, to use liquid money and not “credit cards” because the use of credit cards makes the person not knowing how much money has been spent and how much is left and makes it very easy to buy and sell, so it makes the child feel that it is easy and simple and through a piece of plastic I can get everything I want.
– While teaching your child the value of money, it is very important to teach him the value of giving, meaning that if he buys a new toy, he should choose a nice toy from his existing toys and give it away with love and satisfaction to another child who needs it, and the same thing with clothes. And teach him to give to the needy from the best of what he has, not from the old or broken ones. Tell your child, “As you are happy, let others be happy too”, and take him with you when you donate to any charitable organization and let him know that this is their right. All these activities will teach him social solidarity, empathy and unconditional giving.
– It is important to help your child participate in the expenses from time to time. Like buying a birthday gift for a family member, or buying gifts for his friends, or even the decorations, stickers, and candy needed for the party, in accordance with his simple means and without imposing it on him, but it should be of his own free will in an atmosphere full of fun and happiness. Wishing everyone a happy and positive life
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