When children understand that Mommy and Daddy go to the store and buy things with money, then they are ready to start to learn more about money. Usually children pick up on this relationship between money and buying things at a young age. To check, ask your child: “What do Mommy and Daddy do with money in a store?” If they understand that it takes money to be able to leave the store with merchandise, then they are ready to begin teaching simple money management techniques.
To do this, your kids must have real money of their own to manage. Rather than handing over a sizable sum of money or doling it out a dollar at a time, a weekly allowance give the child a source of income that he or she can learn to make decisions about. Your kid is ready to begin “earning and learning.”
Even if you have household help, you can start your kids on my Work-For-Pay Allowance System. They do two types of chores: Citizen of the Household chores, where they don’t get paid, and Work-For-Pay chores. Citizen of the Household chores teach them that good citizens of the world, the community and of the family, help out because it is the right thing to do.
