There are other methods of teaching fiscal responsibility beyond the lifestyle method. Sometimes our kids need concrete, focused teaching time on financial matters. There are several options and lots of resources. If you need a little help, ask! Perhaps your child’s Sunday School teacher would be willing to do a unit on God’s values about money. Ask their scout leader to do a badge on money management. If you’re part of a homeschool co-op, see if any of the parents would be willing to teach a class on finances. If you organize the class, someone else may be willing to teach it. In addition, many churches now sponsor financial workshops from Dave Ramsay, Crown Financial Ministries, or Good $ense Ministry.

Try instituting a Family Night for a few months. My friend Russ decided to keep his kids out of one evening activity and have a Family Night instead. He tells me it was a wonderful, fun time. He used a terrific book entitled Money Matters: Family Night Tool Chest by Jim Weidmann for great ideas on how to teach God’s principles of money management. For example, Russ cashed his paycheck in small bills. Then he made piles for each budget category so the children could see where all their money went. You could also take the summer and use another excellent book, Money Matters for Teens Workbook by Larry Burkett. This book comes in two age levels, one for pre-teens ages 11-14, and one for teens ages 15-18. I used this with my daughter when she was 11 and found it very practical as well as Bible-based.

I also use homeschooling to my advantage. I assigned the Money Matters book as part of my daughter’s math curriculum. That way she had to learn it. If it’s scheduled, it will get done! I taught Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace for the Next Generation at my homeschool co-op and enrolled my daughter. The National Endowment for Financial Education has a wonderful high school program that can easily be taught in the home. I have used it in a homeschool co-op class also.

I hope you now have some ideas on how to teach your children about money. The lifestyle method is most appropriate for young children, but effective at every age. By the time your children approach junior high, you should be moving toward more concrete instruction, either with assistance from others or by carving out time yourself. You’ll never be sorry you spent time instructing your child in this very important area.

What Do I Teach Them?

Now, of course, you need to know what to teach! I’m going to give guidelines based on the age of your child. For most babies, the first word is “Dada.” Frequently their second word is “no,” followed closely by “mine.” During the preschool years, your main goal is to deal with the word “mine.” You know how 2 and 3-year-olds can be. They think, “If I touch it, it’s mine. If I see it, it’s mine. If I want it, it’s mine.” You need to deal with that attitude young, or they will become boomer-rang kids and think that your retirement income is theirs! The lifestyle method is very effective with young children. My friend Larry illustrates this principle well. Larry took his four-year-old daughter Heather to McDonalds. While eating lunch, he would reach across the table and take a French fry. Naturally, Heather screamed, “Mine!” Larry would ask her, “Who gave you those fries?” Then he would talk about how everything we have is from God and how we don’t own anything, but are only managers of what God entrusts to us. McDonalds is an excellent place to start lessons on stewardship.