Make the most of this Raya to let your kids know the value of money. More importantly, use this chance show them how to manage it wisely.
Younger children may not be aware of the value of money or how to manage it yet. However, all kids whether young or old are always happy to receive them. This festive season is the perfect time to instil the right money management habits.
Teaching kids about money is not easy and they often learn more from our actions than our words. Shaping them to be good with their money doesn’t happen overnight. However, by coinciding these important lessons with these memorable occasions, you will help them remember these lessons more vividly.
Here are some small, but impactful ways you can start:
Be a good role model
Parents are a child’s first role models for learning money management skills. Like most life lessons, what we say does not carry as much weight as what we do.
Show your kids the difference between needs and wants whenever you bring them for a shopping trip. A packet of chocolate or potato chips is a want. On the other hand, a bottle of milk for your child is a need.
Explain to them the difference, and with this habit instilled, they will naturally go through the same thought process whenever they need to buy something.
To spend or not to spend?
If your child is old enough to receive an allowance (be it daily, weekly or monthly), it is always best to teach them to save at least 20% of it. However, when it comes to duit Raya, this rule should be reversed. Instead of saving 20%, the child should be taught to save 80%.
Teach them the beauty of saving and making that money work harder. Even if you are stuck at home, you can still show them how to open an online savings account and point out how savings accounts work.
If your child is lucky enough to have big sum of money in savings, you can even open a fixed deposit account online these days and show them how money they save can be used to generate a profit rate.
This will motivate them to save more and repeat this every year!
Delayed gratification is an important, and essential lesson
Like any kid, asking for new toys (even though they have hundreds of them lying at home already) is inevitable in almost every shopping trip.
With a huge amount of cash received during Raya, it is all too tempting for them to spend everything on toys or games.
However, by letting them do that, they will not learn how to manage their money. Ask your kids to sleep on it before making a financial decision. If after a week or a month, they still want the same toy (most often than not, they would have forgotten about it), then you can ask them to save up their allowance to buy it.
Giving rewards teaches the value of money
If you are giving your child duit Raya this year, think about his/her performance for the past year and match it to the amount you are planning to give. This inadvertently teaches them the relationship between performance and rewards – which is essentially what being employed is all about.
This life lesson is something that will be useful to your kids even when they go into adulthood.
Supporting the habits of saving and practising the age old theory of reward for work will make them understand the basics in a better way.
These simple tips above do not require the parents to do anything extraordinary, or incur extra expenses but by just changing their habits and taking opportunities to impart valuable lessons to your child. Once the seed has been planted, your child will expect the same every year when they receive their duit Raya.
The spirit of Raya has always been of moderation and sharing. Both these values should be taught to your child when it comes to money management.
Selamat Hari Raya and may this year bring you and your family joy and happiness!
