TRAINING YOUR CHILD IN THE USE OF MONEY

Sooner or later the topic of money comes up with your child. Either it's a request for a special toy, or a check from Grandma. It is the parent's responsibility to teach children about money. It is not the duty of the church or the school. "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Prov. 22:6)

Principles for children (and parents):

Teach children that God owns everything by allowing them to see this principle in your lives. Demonstrate that you're willing to put aside your own indulgences to meet needs in other people's lives. Let children see you praying to God about your material needs.

Exercise self-discipline. No parent can require this from a child if they can't do it themselves. This may be as simple as sharing your budget with your kids to show them how you save to buy clothes, repair your car, or take vacations. Children need to understand where money comes from.

Teach your child that everyone needs to live on a budget. It doesn't matter whether you make $8,000 a year or $800,000 a year, you need a budget. A simple budget for children is a plan with four parts: giving (10%), spending (40%), savings (25%), and surplus (25%).

Children Ages 1-10

Assign some nonpaying jobs, such as cleaning their rooms, doing the dishes, and picking up their toys. All children need some basic responsibilities for which they don't get paid.

Provide some paying jobs for your child (mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage, washing the car, etc.).

Pay them only on jobs that are completed. You don't get 90% of the money for 90% of the job.

Pay for quality work. Instill in children the need to do the best they can.

Pay fairly, within your budget, but don't overpay because you can afford it. This creates reasonable expectations in children as they grow and go into the adult workforce.

Use visual reinforcement. A chart on the refrigerator door works well. While not every child is motivated by charts, most are. If a star represents a job well done, be sure you're faithful to that rule.

Teach your kids "sharing" principles from God's Word. Avoid giving your child a quarter for the offering plate. The child didn't earn the money, it didn't cost him/her anything, and it means nothing to most of them. It's best for children to give only if it costs them something.

Show kids how to invest in the lives of other people, particularly the poor. Let them see that giving is God's way of sharing a surplus where others have a lack.

If children are "made" to give, somewhere along the way they'll get big enough to stop. But if they give because of God's love and His Word, nobody will ever talk them out of it.

Teach kids to save. They will thank you for it when they become adults and have an established behavior of saving, avoiding debt, and postponing gratification through the purchase of things.

From The Complete Financial Guide For Young Couples by Larry Burkett. Copyright (c) 1993 by Victor Books/SP Publications. Used by permission of Victor Books, an imprint of Chariot Victor Publishing, a division of Cook Communications, Colorado Springs, Colo. To place orders call toll free: 1-800-437-4337.

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