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How to make your family shopping trip fun with kids.

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ctions speak louder than words and this is true when it comes to teaching your kids how to be sensible with money.
Research shows that children often follow their parents’ financial management patterns when they grow up so, while you may not be talking to them directly about money, if your answer to every fiscal matter is to pull out a card, this is what they will consider normal.
With electronic transactions on the rise, money is becoming more abstract, says Mark Stanley, primary facilitator at CommBank’s Start Smart financial education program.
“The biggest challenge for parents when teaching kids about money is the movement away from cash to cards,” Stanley says.
If you don’t really know how to start, don’t worry. Here are five activities that are so much fun the kids won’t realise they are improving their maths and learning valuable life skills at the same time.

SHOPPING CHALLENGE

Kids often become bored while shopping with parents and then demand sweets and toys which can make it a tiresome task. But, Mark Stanley says one way to make a trip to the supermarket more fun and a learning experience is to give your child a small list of items and say $10 and tell them they need to buy all these things within budget.
“For younger children they may just have a list of a few items the family needs and if they ask for chocolate you can show them that is not on the list and so is not a need,” he says.
This is a great way to explain the difference between needs and wants which is crucial for proper money management.

HOST A LEMONADE STALL

Now they know how to shop for ingredients, older kids should be able to go into business. Opening a drink or biscuit stall on the front lawn, or perhaps a garage sale, teaches kids the value of earning money. They will learn budgeting as they will know how much it has cost for the goods on sale and how much they need to charge for the items to make a profit. Dealing with cash, thinking on their feet, using their maths skills and learning how to transact money with other people are more advantages.

PLAY MONOPOLY

This classic game of money and investing is a good way to teach players about personal finance. While these concepts might feel a bit grown up for kids there are some basic principles which you can use to teach your kids – and have fun doing it! Besides developing maths skills, Monopoly can teach kids about earning money and spending it wisely, not over-extending yourself with loans and credit and the stress that is caused when you do not have enough money to pay your bills!

POCKET MONEY

This is more complicated than just handing out $5 a week and could easily be made into a challenge for the family. Discuss the jobs your child will do to earn a set amount of money, be consistent and be prepared not to pay if they don’t do the work. Then work out with them what to do with the money and teach the value of earning a living and setting goals.
“Ask older kids to assume what would happen if we didn’t save any money. Perhaps you would have to borrow it then you can talk about compound interest,” says Matthew Deeble, Director of Evidence for Learning.

ONLINE GAMES

If the kids are demanding to play games on a screen then make it worth their while.
Some games encourage them to earn “coins” which they can then “spend” on rewards which helps teach kids about the value of earning money. Search the net for some Australian money games for kids such as this one: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money/aud
For older kids, ASIC’s MoneySmart website has interactive games/ tools which teach them about mobile phone plans and budgeting. The site also has a lot of tips for high school students and young adults who may be buying cars or moving out of home.

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