Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter.
All over the world, many school children have commenced their summer vacation or long holiday ( as Nigerians call it).
Apart from increased costs for many homes (electricity, data and food bills typically increase for parents of teenage children); many parents are saddled with the responsibility of keeping them gainfully occupied.
Apart from encouraging them to take part-time jobs or learn new skills; parents can use this opportunity to teach them life skills such as money management or even cooking.
Today, we will be discussing money lessons we can teach our children this holiday:
• The value of labour – conventional wisdom dictates that money one works for is more appreciated than money gotten freely.
• Given that children tend to receive allowances when school is in session, encouraging them to earn more during the holiday is a good way of teaching them to be appreciative of the effort required to earn money.
• From experience, most people tend to be more prudent when spending their hard-earned money.
• Ways of earning money: As we all know, it’s one thing to want to work; it’s another thing to identify what service to provide or which people are willing to pay for or even find a willing employer.
• The holidays serve as an opportunity for children to think creatively about how to earn money – whether they want to render a service, work for someone or even themselves.
• How to differentiate needs from wants: if we are being honest, even many adults are yet to fully understand how to do this.
• The holidays especially afterwards when monies have been made or earned are the best time to introduce this concept to children.
• It helps them set spending priorities and also teaches financial discipline.
• For the older children, you can schedule reading dates to discuss books like “The richest man in Babylon” or “The psychology of money”.
• The essence is to ensure that we equip them with life skills and knowledge of how to manage money as it helps provide them with an edge many of us never had growing up.
In conclusion, there are many ways of teaching or even having discussions about money with our children as there is no one size fits all approach.
What is essential, is that we find the approach that works well for us as money management is taught either through mistakes or intentionally.
Please feel free to enrol your children in our Smart Stewards Junior Club, for updates on our summer activities for them.
Till next week, please remember to mask up in public places.
Toyin Oguntuyi