Tips for parents

Helping children learn good money habits

As parents, there’s nothing more important to us than our kids. We want to do everything we can to help them get the best possible start.

By opening a St.George savings account for your child, you’ve given them a great introduction to the world of banking and saving. When your child opens a St.George Incentive Saver or Complete Freedom Student account, they are automatically enrolled in our Happy Dragon Club. They will receive a Club Newsletter twice a year, and each newsletter has a special section designed just for parents… So keep a look out and enjoy !

It's never too early to start teaching your child about money

Some parents don't teach their kids about money because they think they shouldn't talk about money with children, don't have the time, or think they don't know enough about money themselves.

This simply isn’t true. All parents, regardless of how much we earn, should take the time to teach our kids about money when they are young.

Children learn through observation, and their understanding will develop by the lessons we, as parents, teach them. The way we save, spend, account for and think about money will be passed onto our kids, so it’s important we take the time to teach our children good money habits from an early age.

It will be a lesson that will be invaluable as they go through life.

What do we want to teach our child?

Kids often observe and adopt our behaviour, so what they overhear or see us do, including how we react to situations where money is involved, forms the basis of their own money management habits.

The approach we have to money has, in turn, come from what we’ve learned.

So before you start talking about money with your child, it could be useful to look at the following questions as a guide to help you with what to teach your child and how to go about it.

• What are our family values and attitudes about money that our child may be observing?
• How should our child receive money? Will we use pocket money? Will we link payments to jobs around the house? What age should we start and how much should we give?
• How do we want to teach our child about money? (Talking, Games, Activities, etc)
• How will we manage our child's requests to buy things based on influences from friends or advertising?

Read six simple money lessons for your child.