It’s important to equip your children with money management skills. It can be hard to get them enthusiastic about the subject. But you really do need to teach them this important life skill.

Children Are Always Watching

I am quite careful with money, and I think that is down to my upbringing. My parents have always been very sensible and taught my strong financial habits. So, I to always make sure my bills are paid, and I don’t spend outlandishly and follow their lead. I would have been watching them when I was growing up and learnt valuable lessons by doing so. Also I remember when I was quite young, my mum was impressed because I went from shop to shop to buy my My Little Pony because I wanted it at the cheapest price. I didn’t just buy the first one I saw. Her praise helped spur me on to continue to be careful with my money.

Important Lessons

Children need to know how to budget. I have noticed my boys didn’t always seem to appreciate how hard you have to work to be able to afford something. They seem to think they can live on costly takeaways every night of the week!!! Even though I have perfectly good food in the house. It has got slightly better since my eldest started working in the school holidays because he has had to work hard for those earnings.

However, I did buy a book about money management for children but unfortunately that has stayed on the shelf collecting dust! A new approach I am trying is the money games I found on the Mortgage Calculator website. A game can really help bring a subject to life for children.

Games always seem to get a more enthusiastic reception somehow. The games themselves look colourful and seem the perfect way to teach young children the basics of the value of money. It is priced in dollars, so it is aimed more at an American audience. But any tools you can use to make your children more money wise are worth a try. Games are particularly good because they can help with recall and achievement levels.

Work On Their Numeracy

To be better at managing your money you do need to have good numeracy skills. You can practice this with the Cash Back game on the site. Learning what change you should have when you buy something makes sure children don’t get short changed. I like you can also change the difficulty as your child becomes more confident with their numbers. There is a timer which is good as it encourages your child to get quicker and faster at their calculations as they want to get more right in the time.

Coin Recognition

It’s important children know their coins and notes. As they get older they will also have a bank card and will need to build up their confidence with cards too. When children are young they quite enjoy emptying out piggy banks and counting how much they have. Doing that helps them recognize the coins.

Earn Pocket Money

You can get your children to learn more about money by earning pocket money. You can get them to help with chores in exchange. I usually get my eldest to put out the recycling. You could get them to play the Sort The Trash game to have a better understanding of what they can and cannot recycle.

With their own pocket money, they can plan how to spend it. They learn about saving up when you want a bigger purchase. Having access to their own money also helps them again be familiar with the different coins and notes.

Positive Reinforcement

There are lots of other fun games on the site not geared towards money, with themes such as cooking or farming. You could use these games as rewards when they do well at something. For example, if they learnt the value of their coins and made a sensible purchase or they saved some of their money for the first time. Those exciting games could be a reward for good behaviour. I quite liked the Hidden Food game as you had to quickly spot the items as fast as possible.