Teaching Children the Value of Money: 5 Ways Schools Can Help
Teaching the value of money to the children is an art. As children prostrate on elder’s feet on festivals and special occasions, they are given money in our culture. We can teach the children to save this money in a piggy bank. Parents can account for it initially and motivate the children to spend, save and account for their money.
How schools can help:
Visiting a bank:
Schools can arrange a visit to a nearby bank and explain to children, as young as 5-6 years, the process followed in the bank for deposit, withdrawal, etc. A banker can also be invited to the school and explain the young minds, the activities of the bank.
Joy of giving week:
Schools could motivate the children to spend money from their savings when they celebrate “Joy of giving week”. Each child can bring anything bought from their savings. We at Reeds World School, the No 1 CBSE schools in Coimbatore celebrate the joy of giving week and show children to share our blessings with others.
Pocket money:
Schools can bring in the idea of pocket money for high school children and how they must account for it by the end of every quarter with a report.
Budding entrepreneur:
During the school functions, children can be encouraged to have their own stalls and earn money by displaying their talents like art and crafts or design a new game. This will boost their confidence. We at Reeds World School, the No 1 CBSE Schools in Coimbatore, believe children can achieve more when given opportunities from a young age.
Birthdays:
On their birthday, children can buy a sapling from their savings and plant it together with their friends, this will motivate them to plant more trees and by using their money for a good cause.
Children can be taught to spend from their money for a party, so that they will understand the value of money and can decide if the party is needed or not!
Budget:
Class field trips and excursions can be budgeted by the students and expenses accounted for. Another team can audit it at the end of the excursion or the trip and maintain the balance sheet. This will help them understand how to track the expenses.
Similarly, students can be asked to prepare family budget for a month and how to manage all expenses within that proposed budget.
Book exhibitions:
We at Reeds World School, the No 1 CBSE Schools in Coimbatore, believe books are gateway to knowledge. When children visit the annual book fair, they can be made to spend a portion from their piggy bank and parents can put in 50%. This will encourage them to read more books and to choose the right books.
Communication:
At Reeds World School, the No 1 CBSE Schools in Coimbatore, we believe in “learning begins at home” and encourage parents to talk to the children about their work and how the hard work fetches them the salary every month, the budget each family makes, the savings, etc..
Bonding:
A family that plays together enjoys more quality time and children become overall achievers. So, we encourage the parents to play board games like monopoly or business where children can understand the concept of money.
Children can also experiment with money by trying to save when they shop a dress for themselves under parent supervision which will help them learn the concept of paying money, getting the change and they feel responsible! They will know how to cut the cost and get their desired dress within the projections.
When the concept of money is understood from an early age, we can be sure that children will follow “A penny saved is a penny got” all through their lives and be efficient in money management.