People often ask us when the best time is to teach kids about money. Our quick answer is always the same: when they want some! This is why long holiday weekends are a terrific time to talk to your kids about spending in particular. Holidays like Canada Day and July 4th come with open invitations for families to spend on everything from ice cream to flip flops, theme park visits, and bike or boat rentals. And at Gifting Sense, we know that letting kids build strong spending habits long before they become adult income earners is one of the easiest ways to help them avoid future financial pitfalls.
The allowance approach often brings about one of the best teachers ever: buyer’s remorse. Because many kids blow “their own” spending money on frivolous purchases they quickly regret their first or second time out of the gates. It’s only after they find themselves unable to fund a larger, more meaningful purchase that they see the benefit of a longer-term plan.
Plans help a child stay focused on the inherent trade-offs that spending creates. You can spend your summertime babysitting wages on weekly visits to the local burger place or water park, but then you probably cannot buy those pricey Air Jordans you’ve been eyeing online. Truth bomb: Money spent today is money we don’t have to spend tomorrow!
Kids are typically more interested in getting what they want than saving their family money. But here’s the good news: teaching your kids how to graciously ask for what they really want, will use, and/ or appreciate can accomplish both. In fact, thinking before buying improves family harmony, financial well-being, and your response to climate change. Because when no one wastes time or money buying things or experiences that their family doesn’t even really want or can’t appreciate. there are fewer arguments and fewer donations to landfills in the form of gently used articles of clothing, uneaten food, or the like. There is even less energy expended.
Imagine never having to make a return again. Think about how much that would reduce your family’s carbon footprint. We remind kids all the time that just because a UPS or post office truck is picking up an online return doesn’t mean fuel isn’t being used.
Our workshops on Outschool are actually entitled “Money Smarts 101: Thinking Before Buying Is A Powerful and Rewarding Life Skill”. The subtitle “And a Lot More Fun than You Think” is there for a reason. Kids intuitively understand that thinking before buying will likely save their family money – but it comes as quite a pleasant surprise to discover that TBB is also a seriously effective disappointment avoidance tool, not to mention one of the easiest ways ever to help protect the planet.
Children sometimes need invitations to ask questions. So in the coming long weekend, when the inevitable surge in “Dad, can I…?” or “Mom, could we…?” rears its ugly head, consider responding in a way that lets your kids understand that although you love making them happy, it just isn’t always financially achievable, but that you’re happy to talk about why. Perhaps Miranda Featherstone said it best in her recent guest post for “Parent Data by Emily Oster” : “…while some questions don’t need to be answered until they are asked, children do need invitations to ask questions…so that they know a topic is one that you are willing to discuss.” Planning for summer fun is just such an invitation. In this case, one that lets your kids know you are absolutely willing to talk to them about money.
If you want to learn more about and/ or test-drive our free and safe tool, the DIMS – Does It Make Sense?® Score calculator, click on the pink or blue buttons below. Happy Canada Day to our fellow Canadians. Happy July 4th to our American neighbors to the south. Here’s to early financial education and all that it can accomplish – which is a lot!
Allowance Child Development For Parents Holiday Hacks
