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“Can I spend my money? How much money do I have? I want to save my money!” says, the young girl ready to learn some money lessons!
We love teaching and talking with our kids about money! I want to share with you how the Lord has transformed our thinking in our finances, but if you know us and our story, go right ahead and skip to the part that helps you!
OUR STORY
My husband and I were not good with money in the beginning of our marriage, but we weren’t terrible either. Fast forward 3 years later and we had our first baby. I wanted to quit my job and stay home, but that means we had to start budgeting. We had less money and we just bought a house so we were forced to change our financial habits.
From that point on, we followed Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University plan and it transformed how we handled money. Now, everything we have learned from his class and from teaching his class, we truly desire for our kids to know and understand how to handle God’s money.
We have already started teaching them the basics about money. We need to spend it, save it, and give it. My blog Teaching Kids about Money goes more in-depth on how we explain these three practices to our kids!
Now, we’re able to tell them more about how money works and how God uses money to glorify Himself. I know it might not be easy trying to explain to kids how money works, but I want to give you tips and phrases that might encourage you to start that conversation!
There are a few phrases that we have started to say to our kids that may be helpful to you!
3 BASIC MONEY PRINCIPLES
This is what we teach our children and will continue to teach them about money, all from Dave Ramsey’s, Total Money Makeover.
You can do three things with money: Spend money, save money, and give money. You should be doing all three simultaneously and with generosity.
4 MONEY LESSONS FOR KIDS
“Money belongs to God”
This is the biggest message we want to convey to our children. Money ultimately belongs to God.
As Christians, we want to raise our children to know that they are only stewards of God’s money and it’s their job to steward it well. I love explaining how things belong to God because I often get this response, “why does God have everything?”
I base my answer from the New City Catechism, which says,
“God is the Creator of everyone and everything.”
Since God made everyone and everything, He gets to own everything, including money. It’s so important to help them understand that money doesn’t revolve around them and what they want, but that God gets to choose how He wants His money to be used.
Side note: We also use this same phrase to teach them about tithing. We want them to understand that because of God’s great generosity to us through Jesus Christ, we will be giving back to God a small portion of the money He’s given us.
“We use money wisely/well”
The Lord has given us money to use wisely. When we don’t use the money He’s given to us wisely, then we are not being good managers of His money. It’s really funny, my oldest sees toys in the store, like any other toddler in the universe, and she’s like, “ Can I have that? Can I buy that? When can we get that?” I have to gently remind her that just because we see things we like does not mean we need to buy them. Ouch. That’s a great reminder for me too. How quickly I get caught up in thinking I see something fun in the dollar section at Target, but I need that gentle reminder that I must spend the Lord’s money wisely.
The Bible teaches us that since we are only managers of God’s money that it is our responsibility to use it well. This was a HUGE paradigm shift and honestly, an exposure of sin for me because it made me more careful with how we spend money. This is how we should teach it to our children. Money is to be spent, saved, and gifted wisely.
“We need money”
Bear with me here because I know this sounds like dependency on money. We say this all the time because we want our kids to know that God uses money to care for us. Right before daddy leaves for work in the morning our oldest says, “but daddy I don’t want you to leave!” We proceed to remind her that daddy must work so that we can have money to live. If we don’t have money, we can’t have clothes, have a home, have ice cream, or go on fun little trips. We want them to understand that the Lord uses the means of money to provide for us.
This will be a huge money lesson they’ll carry into adulthood as they find work and find husbands who are willing to work.
“Working can make you money”
This is what I would love to start doing with my oldest. I want to start giving her money, a.k.a. commission, for some of the work she does in the house. She already helps around the house with normal things, but I’d love to give her a little bit more so that she can earn money from us. This way when she says, “Can I have a toy? Can I buy that candy?” We can help her think through the purchase and she can pay for that item.
I want her to connect the relationship of money and work. Not only did the Lord create us to do work, but He also made a way for us to live by earning wages for our work. This is how the Lord intended for wages and work to be used. He gives us work to do and through the means of work He gives us money to provide for us.
Mind you, our children, at the time I’m writing this blog, are very young. But we want to start them off on the right foot financially by giving them tips and biblical principles to take with them as they grow older.
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I hope and pray this was an encouragement to you and your family!
Please share in the comments what money lessons you teach to your kids!