I hope you had a very happy holiday celebration with your family! As the festivities dwindle down, I want to discuss with you what happens after all the gift-giving. This article is about discussing with your kids how to save money given to them. After all the physical and monetary gifts, another gift we can give is helping our kids develop good money habits, financial confidence, and responsibility.

Impart Financial Confidence By Showing Your Confidence

The best way to impart financial confidence to your child is to show them that you believe in them. When you talk to your children about money, especially their money gifts, make them realise that every decision they make is theirs.

Remember to offer your suggestions and your guidance, but do not force or push your idea in favour of theirs.

Here are some points for you to remember whenever you’re talking to your child about what to do with his/her holiday money.

Don’t forget to remind them about good money habits and saving

One of the things that should be constant is reminding your kids about saving their money. Here are some tips on how to open up the conversation and subtly advocate for good money habits:

“I saw that your Aunt Berniece gave you $150 dollars for Christmas. That is so kind of her! Do you already know what you want to do with it? How much do you want to spend and how much do you want to save?

“If you don’t know what you’d like to buy just yet, why don’t you put it aside for now? We can go to the bank together to open a savings account for you.”

“Have you considered giving a small part of your Christmas money to charity or an animal shelter? We can have a look at them together if you want.”

The goal is to inject the ideas in their head and suggest to them the good practices that you think they should be doing. You then offer to go with them or help them out if they choose to take your suggestion. After all, the money was a gift to them.

Give them ownership over their money decisions

Let your kids buy their toy or chocolates or sweetie if they want to. It’s their money and – within reason – they should have their say on how to spend it.

Remember that you are trying to open a discussion with your kids on how to save money given to them. Giving them ownership over their money decisions will allow them to make inevitable mistakes. As parents, we hate for our kids to make mistakes and suffer from the consequences of their mistakes. But we have to remember that mistakes are the best teachers.

It might hurt to see them be a bit careless or lose some money. But we have to let them stand and walk on their own two feet. When they realise that mum and dad will not pay for their mistakes; they will begin to think twice and begin to be more conscious of their spending.

Your advice is a piece of advice, not a command.

Do remember that every time you give your children advice on what to do with their money, it is just advice. This means that they have the option of not accepting your advice and doing something else.

To the extent possible, let them. You have done what you could by making sure that you give them guidance towards good money habits; let them decide what to do with it.

Kids can learn and develop confidence, independence, and a good sense of responsibility. It’s up to our role as parents to make sure they develop it by encouraging the right conversations and good habits towards it.

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