Parenting tips to teach a child the value of money

“Teach Value-Teach Right” must be the communication strategy of parents, teachers to focus on things that are really important to effectively support children to be effective decision makers for valuing money, building character skills and mobilising their intentions in the right direction.“Today’s decisions-mark your tomorrow” and parents play a crucial role in fostering understanding for value of money in their children.

By understanding we do not simply mean creating a positive outlook in life but the ability to seek answers and to reason out. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Kulneet Suri, Senior Director of IMS Noida, suggested, “Parents can use everyday conversations to help develop their child’s met cognitive skills by asking questions that trigger curiosity. Helping children develop strategies to succeed and understand the end-result of their actions on expenses and otherwise can also help them not only understand the value of money but also deal with financial challenges.”

She added, “One of these strategies could be self-control, which is the ability to control one’s actions, behavior and thoughts. There are a lot of other techniques which can used which help the child to see the higher order of events, which in turn helps them to reason, plan and decide to resist some common temptations like computer games, mobile phones and social media, expensive toys and make choices for better values. Asking your child to spend more time thinking about the values of creativity, relationships with family and friends, being independent, kindness, gratitude, respecting diversity and inclusion can help them affirm values which are more important and gratifying in life than money.”

Professor Usha Patel, Director Academics of Indian Institute of Art and Design (IIAD) said, “Teaching the value of money is one of the most important lessons to impart. Money management skills are essential in life and having a good understanding of finances can help us make better decisions in the future. It’s never too early to start learning how to manage finances and make responsible decisions about spending and saving.”

She recommended the following tips:

1. Begin with creating and sticking to a weekly budget to get expenditure and savings in order. It helps us to track our spending and reduce impulsive buying. Creating a weekly budget will also enable us to break down our financial goals into manageable bites. Having conversations around the concept of budgeting and money management to understand the difference between needs and wants. This knowledge can be used to make more informed decisions about our finances.

2. This could involve continuous ideation on a new business venture or finding new and creative ways to market existing products and services. Creating a profile on digital platforms can help us to showcase our skills and connect with potential clients, building a strong network all over the world. It is important to be mindful of our spending habits to make better purchase decisions. It is important to priorities what money is spent on. It is equally important to learn to save money for future necessities. Start by defining a saving goal to get motivated.

AK Sharma, Director at Bhai Parmanand Vidya Mandir in Delhi, revealed, “Each child should understand the fundamentals of money and personal economics from a very young age. A sense of accountability for handling money must be instilled in everyone, making them realize that keeping a track of your expenses results in lowering overall expenditure as one realizes, if and when an unnecessary expenditure is about to be made. Encourage your children to make spending plans with their money. Making a budget for future purchases encourages your children to save money.”

He advised, “Children must be instilled with the mindset of saving, and over time be taught about the value of investing. The power of compounding is an essential showcase for every child when they are taught about investing and expenditure, as they will learn how wise financial decisions in current scenarios leads to grown wealth in later years.”