As a parent, one of the lessons I’m working to teach my kids is about how to manage money. I have a 7-year-old and a 15-year-old, so money management means different things to each of them. The younger one has dreams of buying the latest and greatest action figure they’ve seen on TV, while our teenager has his heart set on having his own car in the next few years.
As they’ve grown up, I’ve worked to teach them a few key lessons and I’ve found that certain tools were helpful in getting the message across to them. Here are the things I’ve found most useful in turning money from a vague concept into a responsible reality for them:
Delayed Gratification
“I want an Oompa Loompa now!” Delayed gratification teaches kids two things. First, they learn not to be a demanding, foot-stomping Veruca Salt and instead begin to understand that not everything can be obtained immediately. They also learn the satisfaction that comes from saving up for something they really want before finally being able to purchase it.
Autonomy
The only way for kids to learn to be responsible for money is for parents to allow kids to make decisions about money. “Do you want to spend all of your allowance on that small toy today, or do you want to save for a few weeks and buy the deluxe version you really want?” Whatever the child decides, they can feel responsible for making that choice.
Go Henry Card
In researching the best way to help my kids manage money, I happened upon a Go Henry review that outlined a wonderful idea. The idea behind the Go Henry card is simple: you give your kids a debit-type card that you can customize with parental controls. This allows children the ability to make smart choices about their money (pay to take the bus to school or ride your bike for a couple of months and spend that money on a new video game?) while not giving them free reign to go crazy with their cash. Find Out More.
You can create settings like weekly spend limits, limits on single transactions, online use controls, and more. It was free for the first two months I tried it out and has only cost £2.99 monthly after that.
By starting with money lessons when they were young and advancing into using tools like the Go Henry card once they got older, I’m confident that we’re teaching our kids the lessons they’ll need to be smart about money as they grow into independent adults.
