Teaching Your Kids About Money

"Money doesn't grow on trees."

"Do you think I'm made of money?"

"Get a job."

These are a few of the best comebacks I have to offer to my kids when they ask for money. While they may be true, they do very little to help my kids to realize both the value of money and the way economics work in our world.

Even telling them that a surprisingly high number of people in our world live on just a few dollars a day doesn't do much to impact their thinking. It's not their fault that we are living in a material world. (And it's not my fault that a Cindy Lauper song is now stuck in your head.)

The truth is that if our kids are going to gain a healthy...and a Biblical...view of money, then we are the ones who need to teach them.

I can remember a few years ago when we were tightening up our budget a bit. I got a hundred one dollar bills in a big stack. Then I used construction paper to write the names of a couple dozen of the key categories of our budget. Then we gathered the kids around the dining room table and began to show where the money goes. It was eye-opening for the kids.

There's a great article that U.S. News published that gives a few tips to help you to educate your kids on money. It's called Four Ways to Teach Your Kids Financial Responsibility by Doug Lockwood. Give it a quick read and pray for God to give you some fresh ideas to teach your own kids.