Stating that money and budget management should be taught to children around the age of 7, experts say that the best method is to give the child an age-appropriate amount of allowance. According to experts, children should be taught the concept of "limits" and the concept of buying something by paying for it. A child who is bought everything he sees without discussing his needs is also unfamiliar with the concept of budget and the concept of limits.
NPISTANBUL Hospital Child Adolescent Specialist Psychologist Leyla Arslan said that budget and money management can be taught to children in an age-appropriate way.
Stating that children who follow normal development processes learn many new concepts from the age of 3, Leyla Arslan noted that the moment when the concept of "less" and "more" is learned forms the basis of mathematics and said, "Mathematics is the way we express the world. Teaching children about money and numbers starts after these basic concepts. Children who grow up by being included in life learn number concepts and money between the ages of 5-6 without realizing it. Those who cannot learn should be taught specially."
The concept of "boundary" should be taught
Stating that one of the basic conditions for healthy development is to teach the concept of "boundaries", Leyla Arslan said:
"At this age, children bring home toys that their friends like. The family should immediately recognize this and send them back. If we are sure that the child has learned the concept of 'boundaries', we can make him/her do simple shopping by giving money, and we should start explaining the importance of paying the prices and prices of the things he/she buys or some needs such as milk, bagels, bread. The child should understand that he/she can have everything by paying a price and that this is very important, then it will be valuable. We should also talk about other brands of a product we buy, for example milk, and how they compare in terms of price and quality and why we prefer them. In this way, our child learns that when buying something, it is necessary to do research, to think about the price, taste, shape and quantity. We can also talk about the features when buying toys. In fact, we can also direct what they should buy."
Talk about their needs
Stating that children need to be consciously guided, Leyla Arslan said: "Even if children think that they can do what they want, when their parents give shape and direction to their thoughts before them, the child cannot be stubborn and resist too much. However, this is the case with children who are consciously taken care of. A child whose needs are not discussed and who is bought everything he/she sees is unfamiliar with the concept of budgeting and the concept of limits. The child should be persuaded not to buy what he or she does not need. If he/she wants it very much, he/she should be given what he/she wants after obtaining the approval of his/her parents. 'You want this very much, your wishes are important to me. But it is very expensive, we should balance our budget and buy it. I don't have that much money on me right now, but I may have it tomorrow" and then the request should be fulfilled. We can teach the child to save money by saying 'When you learn to postpone your requests, we can buy it' or 'We will give you a regular allowance, you can save your allowance and buy what you want'."
Money and emotion management should be taught
Leyla Arslan stated that the period for teaching a child to budget is around the age of 7. "This is usually possible around the age of 7. Learning money and emotion management is very important, but it is not that easy. The easiest way to teach money management to a child is to give them an allowance appropriate to their age. An allowance can mean a different way of spending for the child. The aim is to give the child the responsibility to make decisions about their own needs."
Pay attention to these points when giving allowance!
Leyla Arslan stated that the following points should be considered when giving allowance and listed them as follows:
-The allowance should be given regularly every day.
-The amount should increase every year.
-Where they can use the money, what they will spend it on should be discussed, and they should be told to allocate a large amount to daily needs and a very small amount to savings.
-While teaching the concept of pocket money, the opportunity to borrow and advance money should also be given.
Even if the family is financially well-off, giving too much money to the child can be harmful for the child.
-Children who go to school with too much money may be victimized by other older classes and their money may be taken by force.
-After primary school, excessive pocket money can be used to buy harmful substances. In any case, the family should also monitor where the allowance is spent.
