There is a huge number of the community, whom like myself, grew up in a family under welfare. We lived in government subsidized housing estate wheremost people in the immediate community were unemployed or blue collar workers. You can probably see here that financial education for kids was not around in this area. I can still remember my economic teacher in school telling us that more than 80% of us will end up like our parents… trapped under the poverty line. Initially I didn’t want to believe it but after finishing high school andwith only about 10 people in our year making it tocollege it was hard not to see many kids follow in their parent’s footsteps.
When I was in my 20s I crossed paths with a neighbor across the street who explained to me that her sister is living the life her mum had with when she was young. A single mum with 2 kids to different fathers and is dependent on welfare.
All those dreams of making it out of the poverty trap seems to me like every kids goal in our society back then, but obviously it wasn’t a dream for many. As you can identify here financial education for kids didn’t even cross our minds back then.
Reading this article right now, you might have the desire to dream beyond your pass and also teaching children about money as one of the things you want to do as soon as possible. Congratulation on making that critical decision to step out of the poverty trap and help your child do so too! Just thinking of my friend’s sister situation, I thinkit was the simple goal that she set “to be able to have the life her mum gave her was good enough for her”. We need to know that being satisfied with what we are given is a great learning experience but it’s not what will drive us to succeed and achieve potential that is easily achieved if we put our mind to it.
Teaching kids about money will not only create a positive experience but also help us review our daily priorities.
To live above the poverty line requires us to:
1. Teaching money to children by changing mindsets
Just because you come from a poor family does not mean you need to stay there forever. Confess “I am not poor” repeatedly to yourselfdaily so you start believing it, is a powerful mind exercise that can build confidence and vision for your life. Repeating the words “we are poor” to your children and yourself will only tell them exactly that. Teaching kids about money requires time and hard work on our part but those words “we are poor” only breed negativity to your child. If they ask for something you can’t afford at the moment, say “You can have that later when ________” it could be birthday, Christmas, after you get your pay rise, after they have saved enough from their pocket money. This always gives them time to learn if what they wanted was an impulse buy or something they really want.
2. Planning a Kids Budget wisely
Set a goal to yourself and your children that you will not live beyond your means. Setting this example to your children will help them do accordingly. This will teach your children about how to setup a kids budget. Make sure you do what you say as children learn more from what you do than what you say. With governments and families all in big debt, credit being so readily available we need to be very wise with our money. Kids these days think everything can be paid with credit cards. I have heard children answer back “just put it on the card mum” when their parent said “I don’t have any cash on me”. We need to be careful when we do use a credit card that we always pay it off in full when it’s due. We need to describe and explain to our kids that the plastic card does come with a statement at the end of the month and mum & dad need to pay it off with our savings. If you do not show the kids the complete picture, it will distort them from the truth and this will limit their understanding of money to an unhealthy state of free spending. You could create a kids budget so they know how to use their money properly. Budgeting for kids is a vital topic to cover when teaching money to children.
3. Look at different alternatives when teaching children about money
Look at alternative ways for your situation. If a holiday somewhere else is not a possibility at the moment because you do not have enough case, why not go camping in your back yard? Spring clean and see what is no longer needed and see if you can host a garage sale or sell it on e-bay for extra cash. Offer your services to your neighbors in the community. House cleaning and gardening work is a sought after job in different neighborhoods. If you can cook decently, why not offer this skill? Many families work long hours and are not prepared to make healthy nutritional food, it might be worth offering your service to them. Do you kike growing your own things? Plant your own vegetable garden will not only save you money at grocers but you can also sell your excess. Tomato off the vine is much sweeter than those at the shops. What you do are doing here is teaching kids about money by showing different ways to earn money.
4. A Second job
These days, if you need to meet the cost of living, you will need to look for a second job. Look for casual or part time work that can assist with paying the bill. The financial education for kids is showing them that you need to take extra measures sometimes in times of need.
5. Second-hand shops
These days, we all live in a materialistic world where people love to buy stuff. Make sure you do your homework before you go out to make your next purchase on an item. Second hand clothing stores stock many clothes that have never been worn before for a fraction of the price of brand new. Check out websites like eBay for that next purchase an auction price or discounted price. Communicate to your friends when you want to buy something. Teaching children about money is all about thinking outside the box sometimes.
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