It’s not quite a case of total surrender, but if like me, you’re a parent who has been at the front lines of the technology wars, pleading with ‘the other side’ to drop their weapons - in this case, the dreaded cell phone - you may want to consider a compromise agreement that’s a win for all combatants.
The parental victory in this particular skirmish: Helping their child build habits that will allow them to create financial security. The child’s victory: Spending time on their cell phone without triggering parental rants as to the mass destruction technology is having on their intellectual and social well-being.
3 Key’s to Money Smart Kids
My experience as a parent a daughter, as well as my many my years of research in the area of teaching kids about money, has made it clear that there are 3 key areas that will influence your child’s relationship with money.
1. Example: We must become the role models our children need us to be in order to help them create financial well-being.
2. Communication: People have an easier time talking about sex than money, and it does not serve our children well. We must show them how to have productive conversations about financial matters, and
3. Experience: We need to give them real life experiences so that they can learn how to make healthy financial choices.
This is where your child’s cell phone comes in. There are apps that allow them to do things like save money, build wealth and create good money habits, while doing something that is part of their normal behavior: Using their cell phone.
Building Good Savings Habits in Real Time…And Earn $5
A friend recently turned my son and me onto Kidfund. I was impressed by the app’s ability to incorporate those 3 key ingredients for raising money smart kids - example, communication, and experience - into its mission, which is to help children build wealth and create good savings habits.
You simply download the Kid Fund app, and you get a savings account for your child at US ALLIANCE Financial. You can link it to one of your accounts, so that you can contribute as well. Kid Fund will put $5 into the account when you make a deposit of any size.
Most important, with apps like Kid Fund, you are literally helping your child’s brain make the link that there’s more to their cell phone than social media and texting, by giving them real time experience that conditions them to use technology to save money and build wealth.
For more on teaching kids about money, follow me on Twitter: stisdale1 Facebook: staceytisdalemoney or Instagram: staceytisdale1120 You can also visit my website mindmoneymedia.com or email me at stacey@mindmoneymedia.com.