Children and Family Finance.

At the moment, the concept of money is still limited to pennies, and Dylan much prefers the chocolate kind.  He sees money being used on a daily basis though, and has his own silver piggy for saving his own pennies.  A couple of months ago I was invited to a dinner with the people at Voucher Codes to discuss children's attitudes to money and how they understand family finances. 

From discussing pocket money and how we encourage children to save, to whose responsibility it is to teach them the difference between credit and debit, eight parent bloggers gathered to share experiences.  As a mother to small children, there are many things I haven't yet considered, but I came away from the night with some ideas ready to put into practice over the next few years.

Schools only go so far when it comes to teaching children responsibility and value so finding a way to communicate the ideas of interest and debt is really a parent's role.  With 22% of 11-16 year olds worried about how much money their family has, I want to find a way to reassure my children, whilst also teaching them to budget and appreciate value.  With 12% of 5-10 year olds feeling negatively about money, I don't think it is too early to start teaching the basics either.  You can read the full findings of the survey as well as the blogger feedback on the voucher codes website.

We have a while before we start with pocket money and explaining finances to the boys but if you have any tips for us then please do share!

Disclaimer:  I was invited along to a rather delicious dinner to discuss family finances and provided with a goody bag.  My views are my own and all statistics are taken from research that has been linked to.