Children's Day is approaching. This is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of something a little more grown-up, namely money. We often put off talking with our children until we miss the right moment to instill proper financial habits. It is good to get children involved in household budget planning from an early age. This will help them to become conscious consumers and to rationally manage their finances in the future. Surveys by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation show that nearly half of us don't get our youngest involved in discussions about household finances.
"If we want our children to competently manage their money in the future, we must teach them that from an early age," says Krzysztof Kaczmar, President of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. "We should familiarize them with basic financial mechanisms, entrusting them with small amounts and taking them shopping. Meanwhile, our surveys show that 1/3 of the parents among the respondents gave their children allowances."
How to teach our youngest budget management? Primarily through conversation. Unfortunately, as many as 49% of us do not include their kids in discussions about finances, and only a fifth of us involve them in the planning of household expenditures. Even fewer parents (17%) encourage their children to set aside money, and only 7% open an account (or sub-account) for them in a bank.
Regularly giving an allowance, even a symbolic amount, can be a good lesson in management of money and an incentive to save. However, surveys by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation show that only 35% of parents give their children an allowance. On the other hand, 15% of respondents declare that their children get money for whatever they need and therefore don't have to be given an allowance. This solution not only does not teach management of finances, but on the contrary instills bad habits, e.g. inability to save or wastefulness.
The amounts given as allowances vary, but most often they don't exceed 50 zł a month (57%), while one out of four parents give 50 to 100 zł for this purpose. Children getting more than 100 zł a month are a rarity - only 17% of parents who give an allowance are that generous.
Instilling at an early stage the habit of setting aside even small amounts of money will help with achieving success in conscious planning of expenditures in adult life. It is good to make children aware that the amount of money that we have is not unlimited and to show how we plan expenditures as a family. Let's take our children shopping, let's show them how we compare prices, and let them learn a rational approach to money on this basis.
