Children and money

            In today's world, working parents can hardly take out enough time for their children. With such little time, the parents feel like pampering their children with gifts, toys, clothes, chocolates and ice-creams weekend visits to the shopping malls adds to the pampering. parents want to give their kids more than what they got growing up. But do the kids take these things with a right attitude? How do we balance between giving our kids the moon and the stars and at the same time make them appreciate the value of money? Here are some effective ways to make your child money wise:


Give them limited choice. do not shower your child with gifts, toys and books. Ration them out. Let them play with the new toy to their heart's content. Only then they can be given a new one.

Pocket money: Fix a reasonable amount of pocket money for your children. Do not merely hand over few notes to the child. If you show respect for the money, the child will also do that. Also keep a tab on the child's spending habits. Ask them for an account of the money that is spent. 

Encourage the habit of saving in your child. Tell them that if they save money this month, they can get double the money saved, for the next month. 

Whenever you are going out for shopping with you kids, you can fix a sum of money for their shopping and hand it over to them. Let them buy anything that fits into that amount. This method develops appreciation for money in your child and also saves you from arguing with your child about what to buy and what not to.

Above all, parents themselves must be a role model to their children. Practise what you preach.

Money makes the world go round, and your children should know at an early age that a lot of hard work goes into the monthly pay cheque. The next time you hasten to pull out your wallet to appease your child, think again.

-Deepa