Incorporating Financial Lessons

In the same way that there are everyday opportunities for teaching kids about making money parents also have plenty of opportunity for incorporating financial lessons on a day to day basis.

Of course, it can seem challenging at the same time. After all, it's hard enough keeping up with all the day-to-day parenting stuff. And now you're supposed to be incorporating financial lessons as well?

But it's actually not that hard. The key here is to make teaching money skills part of what you are already doing. This may even be more effective because you are showing how things work in the real world of money - not just how it works in a Monopoly game.

And some examples of how other parents are doing it really helps. Case in point - check out this really cool post about incorporating everyday financial lessons from the blog Raising CEO Kids.

The post is a top 10 list of ways to make financial lessons part of your day to day parenting. You can read the full post via the link above, but here are my top five favorites (paraphrased):

• Compensate your kids for extra work or great efforts. This can be done outside of an allowance program or teen chore contract.
• Don't pay them for stuff they should be doing as a member of the family. That means that not all items on a chore chart are tied to an allowance or payment.
• Teachable moments are everywhere. I really like this one. From changing gas prices to back-to-school specials, you can use seemingly mundane things to raise their money awareness. You don't have to go crazy here, and you should always keep the developmental level of your child in mind, but average person literally makes hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions each month related to money - getting it, spending it, saving it, and (hopefully) investing it. Don't be afraid to include your kids into your decision making process.
• Along those same lines, taking kids to the grocery store can provide money lessons over and over again. This can range from teaching younger children counting money skills all the way to assisting the older kids with issues involving money management for teens by designing a menu and shopping for all the necessary items while staying on budget.
• Teach them how to comparison shop. Whether you are on a regular kid shopping trip or teaching them about shopping online, knowing how to get the best deal is worth the investment.