This is the second post in a 5-part series about money concepts. These articles are mostly written in “kid talk” for you to discuss when you can. Our financial situations are all unique, so the suggestions offered are simply a framework for you to personalize. Rephrase, skip, and embellish as needed for the ages and interests of your kids. Break it up over the course of several days if desired.
Opening Idea:
We’ve learned that how we spend our money shows what we value. People are certainly valuable, and money allows us to care for people in different ways.
1 – Money allows us to care for our family now and in the future. We use money to meet our basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and clean water. We pay at stores or through the stores’ websites or phone apps for groceries and clothes. We pay online or through the mail for our home and water. These are called bills and mortgage/rental payments. We also pay for other things that aren’t necessary for us to survive but very helpful, such as our cars, electricity, gas, internet, and phones. ALL these things involve moving money around – even though we don’t see it. The money we earn from our salaries/wages is added to our account at the bank (like an imaginary bucket at the bank to hold our money.) Then we subtract money from that account to pay for all these things.
Visual idea for younger kids: Use a water pitcher to represent your bank account. Draw pictures or write words on post-it notes or scraps of paper to label the pitcher (bank) as well as various sizes of cups or bowls: work/job, home, groceries, cars, internet, electricity, etc. Start with some water in the pitcher and in the work/job container. Pour water from the work/job container into the bank (pitcher) and describe how your employer adds money for your salary/wages to your bank account because of the work you did. Then use the pitcher to pour water into smaller containers, showing how money is subtracted from your bank account and added to the grocery store, water company, home mortgage company, cell phone provider, etc. when you pay for those things. (If you use the ATM to get cash, you might also have a small container for that so your kids see that money is subtracted from your account when you take it through the ATM.)
Things might happen in the future that will cost extra money. Someone might need braces or want to go to college. Someone might go to the emergency room or need surgery. We might be in an accident that ruins our car. We want to be prepared to care for our family in these situations, too. So we regularly put money into a savings account that we try not to subtract from for our regular expenses, but we can use it in those special situations.
(If you use the visual idea above, have another bowl labeled “savings” and add water to it.)
Extensions for older kids: There are other ways we save for the future. We regularly add money to insurance accounts for our car and home. They are separate from the bank but save our money to help us in emergencies (e.g. accident, tornado, etc.) We also add money from our salaries/wages to a retirement account to help us pay for things when we’re old and won’t have a job that adds money to our bank account. Sometimes we add money to investments that can earn more money over time; we can also use that money for expensive needs in the future. Some of those investments might be education plans (e.g. 529) to help you pay for college if you choose to do that when you get older. (Playdoh can be a helpful tool to depict investments or simple vs. compound interest.)
Talk Together:
- About what bills you pay regularly. Show them the apps you use to purchase groceries, cellular service, etc. This can be quick – you’re just helping them build an awareness that things that seem to “just be there” actually cost money.
- About larger expenses you are trying to save money for.
- (with older kids) About various ways you pay (debit cards, credit cards, checks, Apple Pay, Venmo, etc.) and how they each move money in conjunction with your bank account.
2 – Money allows us to care for people outside our family. Not everyone has enough money to take care of the needs for their family all the time. Often they are trying, but maybe they get injured and can’t go to work to earn their salary/wages. Or someone in their family has a long illness that requires expensive medicine and doctor’s appointments.
Jesus modeled the importance of caring for others’ needs and taught us to use our money to help others. We might do this by buying extra food for a family going through a hard time or a gift card for gas for someone making a lot of trips to the hospital. Maybe we donate money through fundraisers or contributions to organizations that help meet the needs of strangers.
Talk Together:
- About ways others have helped you or your family when you were going through difficult seasons.
- About how the people or organizations you give money to help meet the needs of others. If applicable, find photos on websites to “put faces” on the people your money helps.
- (with older kids) Regardless of your opinion about its future, describe how Social Security involves one generation helping another.
A prayer for parents (by Kayla Craig):
Lord, if we have abundance, let it be an abundance of peace.
If we have wealth, let it be the wealth of memories together.
If we must consume, let us consume Your Word.
If we must invest, let it be in the poor.
If we have more than we need, let us give more freely.