海角大神

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a parent is watching as your child鈥檚聽mind听驳谤辞飞蝉.

An infant relies on you for virtually everything, but as time passes, that infant becomes a toddler, then a child. At each step 鈥� seemingly on a daily basis 鈥� that child鈥檚 ability to make decisions and think things out becomes stronger and stronger聽and stronger. At the same time, that child is starting to build habits that are going to stick around well into adulthood.

In other words,聽those middle childhood years, of which two of my children are progressing through right now, are prime years for teaching the ins and outs of frugality and smart use of money.

Parents 鈥� myself included 鈥� have the opportunity to burn these kinds of lessons into their child鈥檚 head on a daily basis. Here are some of the things聽I聽do to encourage my children to use frugality as part of a normal and healthy relationship with money.

We talk through their spending decisions.聽As I鈥檝e mentioned before, we pay our children a small weekly allowance 鈥� just a few dollars a week. For most of the things that they wish to buy, they have to save for at least a few weeks.

When they finally decide to buy something or reach their savings goal, we talk about what they鈥檙e going to buy. Is this really the coolest thing they could use their money on? Does this thing just look cool or will it actually be fun to play with?

In other words, we try to get them to be discerning about what they spend their money on.

We focus on experiences rather than stuff.聽A big part of this conversation is about what you鈥檒l actually聽诲辞听with the item in question if you buy it.

Will you play with it just a time or two and then never touch it again? We point out Christmas gifts that they really,聽really聽wanted in past years, then forgot about on December 26.

Is this something you can play with in a lot of different ways? Our children are constantly combining and remixing their Lego kits, for example. On the other hand, some toys really only have one way to play with them.

We try to get them to think about the聽experience聽they鈥檒l have with the item rather than the item itself. Surprisingly, it鈥檚 made them much pickier about the items they want to spend their money on.

We show them how to shop around and get the same item for less money.聽When they decide on an item, we don鈥檛 buy it immediately. Instead, we鈥檒l look at a few stores to see which one has the best price on the item and we鈥檒l also use websites in this search.

The first time this really clicked with my oldest child, he was hooked. He found a toy he had enough money to purchase that cost $30 at one store. After some shopping around, we found the聽exact聽same item for $10 elsewhere. He not only had the item, he still had most of his money. That has really stuck with him.

We talk through some of our spending decisions, too.聽These conversations aren鈥檛 just limited to our children鈥檚 spending decisions. We have these conversations with our children about many of聽our聽spending decisions, too.

We walk through our thought process when buying something. We explain why we don鈥檛 splurge and then let them know when those choices not to splurge pay off later. We show how we shop around for items and how we make buying choices in the store.

Sure, sometimes they鈥檙e not interested in the topic, but the message sinks in:聽this is how people normally spend their money.聽They don鈥檛 just give in to every impulse they have. They鈥檙e careful and thoughtful about the product of their work.

Will our children turn out to be frugal adults? It鈥檚 impossible to tell, but they certainly seem to be frugal with their allowance. At their age, I鈥檇 spend whatever money I had rather quickly, but they (usually) tend to wait patiently and spend only at the right opportunity.

The post聽聽appeared first on聽.