Walk the talk to teach kids about finances

With all the blah blah blah about financial literacy of late, there’s been a big push to put money lessons into the school curriculum. Let me save you some disappointment: it won’t work.

Remember the food pyramid? That’s being taught at school, which is why we no longer have a child-obesity problem. Oh, wait . . .

The kids can learn which foods are healthiest, but if mommy and daddy serve up a hotdog, a bag of chips and a can of pop for lunch, what lesson will they really remember?

Whether you’re actively teaching your children about money and the role it should play in their lives or not, they are learning from you. When you tell them to save 50 per cent of what they get in birthday money or from their paper route or from working at the grocery store, you’re sending signals.

Do you save 50 per cent of your income? Then why do you expect your children to do it?

Do you save anything at all? If you don’t save, if you don’t talk about savings and making them grow, your children will learn that saving isn’t important.

If you follow trends, try to emulate what you see on TV or in glossy magazines or compare yourself to your friends, your family, your neighbours, then you can’t turn to your children and say, “Don’t give in to peer pressure.”

What do you want your children to know about money and the role it should play in their lives?

More is better or enough is a good thing.

Richer is better or a life well lived is what we are striving for.

Pay it off tomorrow or don’t spend money we haven’t yet earned.

Life offers lots of opportunities to teach your children how money works, what they can do with it and the place it should have in their lives. From grocery trips to back-to-school shopping, from allowances for learning to paid chores for earning, you can use all the experiences kids have in their day-to-day lives to teach them about money.

If you’re afraid because you don’t know where to start or what to say or you’re worried you might get it wrong, don’t worry: You are already your kids’ best teacher. They look to you for their sense of who they are and where they fit in the world. They count on you to guide them through the rough waters of making and keeping friends, building relationships, coping with the world at large. They trust you.

Besides, most of what you have to teach isn’t that complicated. Is it so hard to get across the idea that money is an exhaustible resource, that when you spend it, it’s gone? Or that you have to make choices about what you do with your money? Or my fave, that you can’t spend money you don’t have?

If you don’t have all your financial ducks in a row, time to clean up your mess. You can’t use the old “do as I say, not as I do,” because kids will catch you out. Walk the talk if you want your children to learn the right lessons from you. These are lessons well worth learning . . . even for you. Gail Vaz-Oxlade is the host of Til Debt Do Us Part and Prince$$. Follow her on Twitter @GailVazOxlade. She blogs daily at gailvazoxlade.com.