Welcome to a new group of financial life lessons! In our Kids & Money series, the focus is on teaching these lessons to your kids in a way that they can understand (and will grab their attention) with a specific relevance to financial topics.
In our first series of lessons, starting with the concept of “Breathing Room,” we taught the life lesson of defining what the concept of “rich” really means. We also talked about the concept of quality of life vs. standard of living – both important ideas for any child or teen to understand.
In our second series of lessons, starting with defining the meaning of Opportunity Cost and how that relates to life and finances specifically, we teach about the impact of choices on both ourselves and others.
Now, in our third series of lessons – let’s get ready to talk about budgeting for kids!
Teaching Kids How to Budget: Planning Time
Elementary: One of the first ways we learn to budget is to plan our time.
Let’s say there’s a family outing planned for Saturday and to make it to the event on time, the family must be in the car and pulling out of the driveway by no later than 9 AM!
- Have the kids identify as many tasks as possible from the time they wake up to the time they’d get into the car for such a trip. Examples: make bed, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, feed dog, put on shoes, etc.
- Now, have them assign a time value to each task based on how long each takes to accomplish (i.e. make bed = 2 minutes)
Fun factor: Use poster-board and markers to create a chart.
Middle Schoolers/Teens: One of the first ways we learn to budget is to plan our time.
Let’s say there’s a family outing planned for Saturday and to make it to the event on time, the family has to be in the car and pulling out of the driveway by no later than 9 AM!
- Have the kids identify as many tasks as possible from the time they wake up to the time they’d get into the car for such a trip. Examples: make bed, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, feed dog, put on shoes, etc.
- Now, have them assign a time value to each task based on how long each takes to accomplish (i.e. make bed = 2 minutes)
- Assuming the unexpected happens, ask what a good “time buffer” would be to add to their identified tasks in order to insure they can still make it to the car on time.
Parents: Teaching Budgeting Takes Time!
I know you can see where this is heading — but we want to be sure our lessons don’t take too much time.
Our goal is to stick to lessons that can be finished in 5-10 minutes, yet still be results-oriented and actionable. This will keep your kids focused as well as help you budget your own time!
January 2019
