Financial curriculum for kindergartener? And for ME?

[momma2three]

We want to start DD with an allowance, and open a bank account for her.

 

Can anyone recommend something that would tell me how to teach about finances to a little kid? My parents never really talked about money, and I have no idea how to even go about it. All I know is I want her to be more financially responsible than I was as a clueless young adult!

 

ETA: I'd prefer secular.

[Five More Minutes]

Like you, I didn't learn a lot about financial management growing up, and have wanted to incorporate that into our life lessons for our daughters.

 

At this age, I think it's important to keep it concrete, and you don't need a curriculum to do this. You're giving her an allowance; that's great. (You may also want to link that to chores, but that's a personal decision. We do -- our girls get 5 cents per chore that they do each week, which usually leaves them with around $1 to $2 at the end of a week.)

 

When she gets her allowance, have 3 jars or piggy banks handy: one for saving, one for giving, one for spending. (Or 2 jars if you only want to do saving and spending.)

 

Explain that the "saving" jar is saving for things a long time from now, and give her a minimum amount that must go in it. (Usually 10 cents out of every dollar goes into it in our house.) Show her with coins how much that is. Explain that the "spending" jar is money for fun things like books or movies or special clothes.

 

Then give her the allowance in coins and allow her to divide it into the jars, meeting the minimum amounts that she set.

 

And then the hard part ... when you're in a store and she asks for an out of the ordinary treat, you can show her how much it costs, and help her to work through how much spending money she has and whether she wants to use it on that.

 

We've been doing this consistently for a couple of years now, and my girls already have a better sense of how to manage money than I did as a young adult! :001_smile:

 

I also used some of the role play and other activities from Thrive By Five with our young children -- they may have some ideas for you.

[abbeyej]

I don't *think* that Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Junior is explicitly Christian, but I'm not sure. That's probably the first thing I would look at for a young one though: http://www.daveramsey.com/store/kids-teens/kids-3-12/financial-peace-jr-for-kids-ages-3-12-/prod112.html

[alisoncooks]

At this age, you could just get one of those sectioned piggy banks (spend/save/donate/invest) and a chore chart. Give her some things she's expected to do as a member of the family (i.e. tidy up toys she brings out) but give her some jobs that you'll pay her to do (bring bathroom trash cans to you when you're gathering for trash day, wipe off baseboards, etc).

 

If you want to go further, show her how to keep record of her accounts. You could do this for her in a cute little notebook. Fun math lessons, too.

 

(Now, if I could only take my own advice and do this... I've been meaning to get started with my oldest, but keep putting it off...)

[Tanikit]

I agree with Lynnita - at that age just giving an allowance is the best start. It is probably best at that age to give an allowance weekly (monthly is too seldom until they are older), to accompany them to the shops to spend money, to discuss saving and costs including tax (especially if it is not included in the price attached to the object bought).

 

At the beginning you usually have to help with options that they can choose to buy, help with looking at price tags and with the addition if they are buying more than one item and most importantly help by speaking as much as you can about the choices - if you choose that then you can't have that. If you save for this then you won't be able to get this now. Your pocket money is for this and this... I will stay pay for x,y,z for you, but I am no longer going to buy you.... that is your responsibility.

 

The hard part is actually the parents - you are deciding how much money to give your child and as a parent you have enormous sway over what they buy at least initially and you have to be able to let go enough to guide without taking over and also be strong enough to let them make mistakes and then not hand over more money to compensate for their mistakes. How much they learn from getting pocket money is mostly up to you and the amount of help and freedom you give them.

 

A bank account is usually too abstract for young children - so you can open it and tell her about it but until middle school it is usually beyond a child to understand money that they cannot see. (My own DD thinks a bank card pays for everything - she has no understanding that there is a limit on that thing based on how much money was put in there and bank accounts are similar - too far away and abstract to understand)