Teach Your Child Financial Responsibility with These Free Printables
Whether or not you give your child an allowance comes down to your parenting style. However, they can be a great way to start teaching your young ones about money management and financial responsibility.
There’s often a debate on how much you should give your child and at what frequency. For example, some parents like to give their children an allowance that is determined by how many chores they completed. Other parents, meanwhile, will give their children a set amount of money every week depending on age and personal responsibilities. Let’s not forget, too, that some parents don’t believe in allowances at all.
Whether you believe an allowance should be given as unconditionally as your love or think behavior is the main determining factor, these printables can guide you and your child through the allowance process and help you teach them all about financial responsibility.
Kid Allowance Trends
First, let’s go over some common trends surrounding allowances for children. Many parents start giving their children allowances by the time they’re 12 years old. Additionally, most parents give an allowance that fluctuates instead of being fixed.
For the parents who give fluctuating allowances, they determine an allowance on several factors that include the amount of chores done, good behavior, age, grades, and the parent’s salary.
How To Teach Financial Responsibility to Your Kids
The majority of parents agree that teaching their children about financial responsibility is the most important reason to give them an allowance. Although this is the standard, many children don’t save their allowances or learn financial literacy. Help them learn at home with an allowance.
Allowances are just the first step to financial independence and responsibility for your kids. Follow these steps to make sure they use an allowance responsibly.
1. Set Clear Expectations
When you give your child an allowance, you should always discuss expectations and responsibilities with them. If you tie an allowance to good grades, behavior, and completed chores, be sure to let them know exactly what you expect from them.
Also make sure your child knows what they need to pay for from now on. You may take care of clothes and food but they will have to cover extra expenses like toys and video games.
2. Create a Budget With Them
Once you have set some clear expectations, sit down with your children and help them create a budget—whether it be weekly or monthly. By teaching them budgeting dos and don’ts, they can become more financially responsible.
By going through budgeting strategies, you can help set them up for success and develop money management skills as they get older. When first discussing money with your children, go over this needs vs. wants list.
This printable is ideal for kids who are aged 5 to 10. In the printable, there are several items listed that range from “shelter” and “medicine” to “sweets” and “video games.”
3. Encourage a Savings Plan
Emphasize the importance of saving money by creating a goal for your child. These goals can be anything from an expensive toy to a video game console. Once you have a goal in place, you can teach them to set aside money each week to reach the goal.
This can teach them about patience and money management at the same time. You can also teach them more about percentages and knowledge of a dollar with this method, too.
This printable allowance chart will help your child learn to reach their savings goals. First, help them set a savings goal. Then, write down their deposit each time they save their allowance money. Color in sections of the cake each time they get closer to their goal. By tracking savings on paper, they can see their progress take shape in front of their eyes.
4. Use the “Spend, Save, Give” Method
Many parents are firm believers in the spend, save, give method for educating their children about money. Encouraging them to save one-third, spend one-third, and give one-third of their allowance to charity can encourage good money habits that are charitable. This, in turn, can teach your child good lessons about kindness.
This printable will help your children visualize every contribution. Add up the totals at the end and celebrate how much money went to every account. Then, encourage them to buy something nice for themselves with their savings.
Now you know the importance of allowances and how they can help teach children about budgeting their money. Take these printable worksheets and help your kids grow into budgeting extraordinaires.
