Article- start teaching kids about money

[melohdy]

My child knows not to put money in her mouth. That's a good start, right?

I prefer the idea of assigning a dollar amount to chores that may be above and beyond what is usually expected of her. You see all over Pinterest these days the crafts where a child can select a chore worth a $ amount if they are looking to make more money and/or save up for something bigger.

We didn't get an allowance growing up; so it is kind of foreign territory for me.

The plan now is to have chores that Lilly needs to accomplish in order to be a contributing member of the household (picking up after herself, making her bed). If she'd like to do something extra on the side, she can pick up extra duties (age appropriate) to earn some spending money.

I like the portion of the article where they talk about allocating percentages to show saving/spending. I think, with guidance from the parents, the kid should decide what those percentages are. While we may make Lilly donate some of her toys around the holidays, if she doesn't want to donate money to charity...that's her prerogative. We will explain to her the benefits of saving and donating but it is her money that she has earned.

[momofcatan]

I liked this article but its a strange personality quick of mine that it took a lot of effort to read it through since I'm all over any other finance topic. I might see if the library has her book, maybe it will help my anxiety. I get all sorts of feelings every time see a "how to teach your kids about money" article. Usually I just skip them because I will start to feel anxiety and worry about not doing it right. Also I feel like there is no right formula for teaching a kid to be good with money, so I don't think any article can be right. My parents raised my sister and I very similarly but she's a spender and I'm a saver (though she isn't in debt so maybe they did do it "right" with both of us, who knows...).

I think I will probably do a small allowance to help teach my kids about money, but I don't think I will offer any extra pay for doing specific chores. If they want to make more money I would probably encourage them to do things outside the house for neighbors or family (or get a job when old enough).

I have already figured out my answer to the "are we rich" question. There is a great Jewish proverb, "Who is rich? The one who is happy with what he has."