Watching your kids grow up can be sentimental, especially if you aren’t prepared to see them become teenagers so soon. But you have to accept the reality of how fast life goes and learn to be supportive through each step of their lives, including how they manage their money.
Teenagers can expect to deal with their finances sooner than they think, so it’s crucial to jumpstart their knowledge regarding money management. If you want them to thrive in the real world on their own one day, you need to prepare them and teach your kids all you know about finances.
While it may be complicated to bring up your family’s financial problems and catch their attention on a topic they don’t find too impressive, it’s often necessary to help improve your teenagers’ money management skills. Keep reading below to find out some tips on getting your teens to care about managing money correctly for the sake of their future.
Hold a Family Discussion Regarding the Economic Crisis
It may feel awkward at first to touch up on the topic about your family’s income and expenses with your teenagers, primarily if you aren’t doing so well. One way to ease into it is by talking about the current happenings in the world.
With the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic still apparent in economies globally, your children must know how the crisis affects everyone financially. You can relate your current financial situation and tell them how you’re coping, such as benefiting from an emergency budget.
If you can see that you’ve caught your teenagers’ attention, you can try asking them what they think and what they can imagine doing if they were in charge of the finances. Picturing them in your shoes helps lead them in the right direction, slowly getting your teens ready for when they need to make real decisions concerning money.
Prove the Importance of Saving Money for the Future
Parents need to understand that not a lot of teenagers show interest regarding their financial future, at least not at the moment when they’re busy growing up and understanding their adolescence. While they worry about their present, you can turn the situation into something useful by showing your kids that they can gain something from saving money now while they still can.
As you continue to provide them with their allowance to spend on school and personal reasons, you can show them how valuable it is to save and prepare for a rainy day. You can even explain how salaries work, so the moment they get their own job, they’re ready for it.
At an early stage, you have to tell your teens that the allowance they’re getting isn’t something they can freely spend and expect to get more once they consume it all up. If there’s something they want to buy, you can teach them to budget wisely and save their allowance until it’s enough to get what they want because they earned it.
Let Teenagers Know It’s Okay Not to Get It Right the First Time
Your teenagers may not realize the true worth of money until they experience making mistakes regarding managing it. If you expect them to be perfect at saving their allowance all the time, they will never understand the feeling of success.
Each time they fail, you’re not supposed to leave them on their own to figure out what went wrong. Instead, as parents, you should support them and let them know it’s okay to try again. Teaching them to balance their savings shows them what independence feels like and why it's necessary.
Besides, teenagers who can learn from their mistakes at an early period of their lives are more capable of aiming for success. When they own up to their mistakes, you’re teaching them to be more financially responsible, to continue believing in what they’re capable of the second time around.
Conclusion
Your teenagers usually pick up skills from the people that inspire them, and if you serve as their role models, you can witness them learning to manage their money as they grow older. You can teach your teens how to handle finances by holding a family discussion about the economic crisis, prove to them the importance of saving for their future, and letting them know it’s okay not to get it right the first time. That way, your family can grow together and overcome financial challenges and continue improving your money handling skills as a team.
Are you looking for more resources on teaching kids money management skills? Kiddie Kredit serves as a mobile app to teach your children a reliable credit system with each chore they accomplish. Get in touch with us today to find out how it works!
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