This post was written by Virginia Nolen, a homeschooling mother, wife and occasional blogger.

While so many of us adults are struggling to learn to manage money and finance our lives, we often forget to make sure our children are receiving a proper financial education. If we want our kids to avoid the same pitfalls and traps we’ve experienced, we have to make sure we’re giving them the tools they need to succeed. Fortunately, we can learn alongside them and anything that leads to dinner conversation rising above the level of “Are we raising a cow, dear? Do you think our daughter could chew with her mouth closed tonight?” is a positive step in my book!

The first consideration is the age of the children in question.  It’s never too late (or too early) to start, but the sooner the better.  Kevin recommends the book Why Smart People Do Stupid Things With Money by Bert Whitehead for his clients, and there’s an excellent section within the Financial Life Cycle chapter dealing specifically with youth.  Bert Whitehead lays out a chart separating childhood into three stages:  early childhood, middle childhood and the teen years.  I won’t go into futher detail (read the book!) but I want to elaborate on his ideas.  I think about those years somewhat more concretely  (having children in the early childhood stage myself).  In addition to his very good suggestions for topics to be covered at those ages, I add the following general concepts for each age group:  in early childhood, the focus should be on the definition of money and it’s mathematical properties.  In middle childhood, the focus should be on the function of money and the variety of accumulatory functions it has.  In the teen years a focus on the consumer value of money (I’d like them to have a good idea of how much those fancy jeans cost) as well as the far more important ability of assigning a value to consumer products.  That teen year focus sounds redundant, but I assure you it is not.  The grocery store says that apples are worth $1.99 a pound while out of season, $1.25 a pound while in season but am I really willing to pay that much for apples in the first place?  Would my money be better spent buying bananas at $0.40 a pound so that I have money to buy yogurt with?  I’m starting to get hungry talking of food and about to go on a rant about the cost of fresh produce so let’s move on, shall we?

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