Topics:

• Tweens and Money
• Teenagers and Money Management
• Planning and Exploring Careers?
• Developing Healthy Attitudes About Money

Tweens and Money

During the tween years, our children become more aware of the wider world around them and, consequently, of the many ways there are to spend money. Fortunately, they are also about ready to take on some money-earning responsibilities. One of the most important life lessons we parents can give our children is that money must be earned before it can be spent.

The tween is old enough to have goals and to keep the basic records that are involved in personal budgeting. Chances are tweens will have income from an allowance, from jobs and from gifts. Their expenses are likely to fall in several areas. The most common categories of expense are clothing, entertainment, gifts and savings. Help your tween devise a spending plan. Envelopes are a useful tool for setting aside money in each spending category. When you give an allowance or pay your child for work, give the money in denominations small enough that the funds may be distributed in the envelopes according to the plan. This will require some advance thinking on your part but it is the best way to make the lesson work for your child.

The ability to postpone gratification is an essential adult skill. Learning to wait and save for what you want starts in childhood. Your young person may want something special. It may be a new bicycle or a week at camp. Help her find out the cost of what she wants. Then help her figure out how to save to reach that goal. Remember that your child is likely to have other expenses along the way. She won’t be able to save all her income toward that one thing. The goal must be reasonable in terms of the dollar amount required and the time available to reach the goal. It’s OK for you to cost-share for a more costly goal, but stick to the plan.

Another important adult skill that starts with childhood education is respect for what you own. In our throw-away age, taking care of possessions is not given a lot of emphasis. But caring properly for things we have bought or been given is an important part of good personal money management. Frequent replacement of carelessly handled possessions is wasteful of family resources.

As with many things we teach our children, these lessons may not “take” on the first try. Don’t give up. We may have to wait several years to see that our lessons have been successful. Parents often see the good habits they tried to instill surface in adult children.

Teenagers and Money Management

Planning and Exploring Careers?

Making decisions about a career is a process that does not take place on any given day or week. Parents hope their children will become happy, productive adults with good jobs. Many parents, though, aren’t always sure how to encourage this process. First, parents must understand that throughout their childhood and adult years a person’s future career is shaped by many aspects of our society.

In choosing a career, people go through several stages. Many tweens are in the awareness and exploration stages. As they go on into the teen years, they will enter the “trial” stage many times, trying out different jobs. Your role is to encourage your child to learn about and explore many types of jobs.

Because each tween is unique, you may need to try various strategies to promote exploration and planning for careers. Point out your tween's strengths and talents when they ask “what do you think I should be when I grow up?” Make it clear that happiness with a career choice is more important than becoming what one’s parent would like.

Encourage your child to think of many possible careers. Don’t ask “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Ask “what careers are you thinking about?” In this way, you’ll let your tween keep their choices open. This approach also shows that it’s O.K to be undecided. A few may know they want to be doctor in grade school and then become one, but more likely, a tween will not know what he or she wants to be when he or she grows up.

Convince your tween to take part in activities that let them observe workers in different jobs and settings. Your tween might also ask people, including you, about their jobs. This task should be seen as seeking information-not advice. Make use of your friends in the occupations your adolescent is thinking about. A strong interest in a career may warrant a request to visit their job sites.

You can also help your adolescent explore hobbies and other leisure-time activities that are productive and useful. Sometimes such pursuits lead to career choices. For example, volunteer work with young children may help a teen decide to be a nursery school teacher. Likewise, work in a hospital or a veterinary clinic may help teens see what it is like to be a doctor or a veterinarian.

With these strategies, you can help your tween consider many career paths before deciding the one that is right for him or her.

Developing Healthy Attitudes About Money

How does a parent help their tween develop healthy attitudes and skills in using money?

First, consider your own attitudes about money. What feelings have you carried into adulthood, based on your family’s approach? Think about what practices you want your child to follow. Your own actions will help to reinforce what you are teaching.

Involve your children in discussions and decisions about money. This will help them learn about real-life expenses. Let them see how money is saved, contributed to charities and used in purchases.

As tweens mature, they can take on some of the responsibility for making household purchases, such as buying groceries, with your limited assistance. This provides an opportunity for youth to practice comparison-shopping and to see how much it costs to buy food, clothing, or other items they may have taken for granted.

Also, make it a habit of talking about TV commercials and printed ads with your child. Ask them to point out the ways advertisers are trying to draw attention to a product to make it seem appealing. With practice, youth will be able to pick out what is misleading about a claim or sales pitch. This awareness will help them avoid being overly swayed by ads.

Teaching how to write checks, keep financial records and fill out a deposit slip will be skills that will follow them throughout their life.

Finally, make your tween accountable for their behavior. If they overspend, allow them to experience the consequences, such as not being able to buy another CD or go to a big game, if they have spent all their money and can’t afford it.

(Source: University of Nebraska, Cooperative Extension)