Building the character, nature and attitude of children is the duty of parents and families at home. Teaching good habits is something that is beneficial for children’s lives in the future, one of which is the habit of saving. Therefore, you must train your child to save from an early age.
Children who are accustomed to saving from an early age have the ability to manage finances when they grow up. it can also prevent children from being extravagant and choosing to live frugally. That way, children will be wiser to organize and make decisions when managing money.
Children may not know how to manage money well, so they are either extravagant or want to buy everything they want without a second thought. Therefore, the role of parents is needed to control their children’s desires, and teach children to live frugally and save. To make it easier to introduce saving activities to children, here are 10 tips to teach children to save, including:
1. Introducing Money
Children may not be very familiar with money, they know that if they want to buy something they have to exchange it for money. When the child is good at counting, you can introduce money starting from the nominal, the size, the value of money and the function of the money itself in a simple way. This is the first step to teach children to save. If children already know the function of money well, they will find it easier to manage finances.
2. Give Understanding About Needs and Wants
To manage finances well, children must be given an understanding of their wants and needs. Needs and wants are two different things that can not be separated from what will be obtained later. You have to tell your child that needs should take priority over wants.
For example, when a child needs stationery but he wants a toy, you can provide an understanding that stationery is more important than toys and the child can buy the toy at any time. This makes children understand and wiser to use the right money.
3. Introducing the Concept of Saving
To teach children to save, of course you have to introduce the concept of saving and its benefits. Teach the concept of saving in a simple and gradual manner, according to the child’s age so that they quickly understand. For children aged 3-5 years, you can take them to play that involves finances, for example you are a cashier and the child is going shopping. Through these games, children will learn to manage money when shopping.
4. Provide a cute piggy bank
For children, saving in a piggy bank is more fun than in a bank. Therefore, you can give him a cute piggy bank so that the child is more enthusiastic about saving. Give a piggy bank that is not easily broken into so that the child does not take the money in his piggy bank, so that the money he saves can be stored properly.
When your child is old enough, you can also invite your child to save at school using a savings book. Let him set aside pocket money at school to save, and when the child enters his teens, you can make him a savings book at the bank to make it more secure.
5. Give Children Snack Money
Make it a habit for children to be given the right allowance for pocket money and according to their needs. Do not give pocket money too little, it makes it difficult for children to save and don’t give too much money because children can be wasteful.
For young children, you can give a daily allowance, if the child is old enough, you can give a weekly allowance, and when the child is a teenager, you can give monthly pocket money.
This teaches children to manage their own financial patterns and trains them to get used to saving. Children can also save the money they have to fill the savings. You can give appreciation in the form of praise when your child manages to set aside money for savings. This can increase the enthusiasm of children to save.
6. Invite Children to Record Expenses
Children’s expenses are not too big, but there is nothing wrong if you teach them to record the expenses they have spent. It is intended that children can manage finances neatly and orderly.
You can give a small book to the child to record the money spent and money that comes in. It can also educate children to be frugal and aim to make children more disciplined in terms of finances.
7. Allow Children to Choose
As a parent, you can give your child the opportunity to choose what to buy. Don’t force children to buy things they don’t like, and don’t stop them from buying things they want. Even so, it doesn’t mean you support your child to buy all the things he wants, because that is a waste of time. By giving children the opportunity to choose, they will learn to be wiser in spending money and prioritizing the things they need.
8. Teach Children to Choose a Product
So that your child can save more in spending money, you can teach them how to choose good products. Currently, there are many interesting advertisements appearing in the media, it can attract children’s attention in buying something. However, not all of these products are of good quality, durable or long lasting.
If the child chooses the wrong quality product, it will only be a waste of money. Therefore, you can teach your children to be smart in choosing products, and also tell them that there are excessive advertisements, so they can sort out which products they should buy or not.
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9. Ask Children’s Hopes or Desires
As a parent, there’s nothing wrong with asking about the expectations or things that your child wants. After that, you can motivate him to keep saving so that his wishes can be achieved. This makes children more active in saving and saving expenses. After they save a lot, you can give a little extra to buy things the child wants.
Teach children not to go into debt or borrow money from other people to buy the things they want. So that this behavior will not be carried over when he grows up. Tell him that living with accumulated debt will only carry a burden, it is better to be patient in collecting money to buy the desired item.
10. Be a Good Example for Children
If you want to have good children and save diligently, you have to be a good example for your children. Because children will imitate the nature and behavior of their parents. Therefore, make sure you also live frugally and simply and don’t waste money on things that are not important.
Also make sure you don’t go into debt to buy things you don’t need. That way the child will learn to save and save expenses well.