Learning to manage money is an important skill. Children love to play shops and enjoy handling money. Here are a few tips and ideas to encourage your child to be good with his money.

? Start young by helping him to count and recognise the different coins. This is also good practice for school.

? Get a see-through piggy bank. A see-through piggy bank allows him to see all his savings. If he is saving for a particular treat you can stick a picture of the treat onto the piggy bank as a reminder. Seeing the final treat will discourage the temptation to use the money for something else along the way.

? Give regular pocket money. I gave my kids small jobs to do and they got their pocket money on successfully completing their chores by a particular time. I found a weekly allowance worked best.

? Try to encourage setting some money aside each week as savings.

? Don?t rescue them if they over spend - and cannot afford a mid-week treat because of this. Consequences are a result of their actions and your child will not take responsibility for his actions of you always bale him out.

Here?s what I Found

When I started giving our children pocket money I told them that it was up to them how it was spent ? it was their money. They got their allowance on Saturday once they had tidied their bedrooms and I was happy with the result.

As I handed over the pocket money I told them that it was up them to manage their allowance. If they ran out of money they would have to ?do without? until the next Saturday when their allowance was due.

The first week our son took all his allowance and spent the whole lot on sweets. He came and showed me what he had bought ? waiting for my reaction. I said to him that it was his money and his choice of how to spend it. Not the reaction he was expecting! He was pushing the boundaries knowing that I wouldn?t approve of all those sweets.

By Wednesday he wanted a comic but had no money left. I pointed out (in a neutral tone of voice) that his allowance was to cover all of his treats. He realised that spending all the money on the Saturday meant that he couldn?t afford the comic.

That was the only time he spent all his pocket money sweets!

Help your child to learn to manage his money by letting him make mistakes and living with the consequences. Doing this when he is young will help him to avoid money problems when he is older.

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