“Working to help parents raise money-smart kids.”
Hello, friends!
I hope you had fun feasting over the past weekend. 🦃🍽️🥧
Due to holiday festivities, I mined our newsletter vault for this week’s ideas to share and save. There I uncovered three relevant blasts from the past: one about getting started with an allowance program, another about creative gift-giving and a third about the importance of tomorrow.
Read on to find out more!
— 1 —
Why wait? With the New Year approaching, it’s tempting to delay an allowance program until January.
Don’t!
The holiday season is a terrific time to begin an allowance for a few key reasons.
For instance, you will almost certainly end up in a store with your kids. And they, especially the younger ones, will likely beg you for toys during these excursions.
Introducing an allowance will help you delegate the decision-making process.
So you can turn the unproductive — and not to mention irritating — back and forth of “Pleeeeease!” and “No!” into questions for your kids to ponder:
“Do you have the money to buy the My Colorful Unicorn doll?”
“Would you like to save to buy that videogame system you so desperately need?”
My wife and I discovered that once our daughters learned they, not we, were responsible for purchasing decisions, those decisions tended to improve.
Will your own kids make mistakes? Of course! But they’ll learn from each of those missteps.
And you just might recover a little of your seasonal shopping sanity. 🤪
— 2 —
Looking for holiday gifts? In this Art of Allowance Podcast video short, Pocketnest CEO Jessica Willis explains how she gave her kids the gift of investing for the holidays. This is a wonderful idea and truly a gift that will keep on giving.
If you’re interested in other more meaningful gift ideas, then you might also enjoy my conversation with Guinevere Higgins and Kelley Dennings of New Dream. Even though this nonprofit closed its doors, much of its spirit can be found in Fairplay, the organization formerly known as the Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood.
And if you want to dive even deeper, then tune in to my discussion with the Executive Director of Fairplay, Josh Golin. It includes plenty of useful information about raising consumer-savvy kids, a key topic this holiday season. You could also stream my conversation about materialism and well-being with Tim Kasser, a former Fairplay board member.
— 3 —
What’s so special about tomorrow? We ultimately want to help our kids learn to use money as a tool they will wield to build the lives they will love. So the holiday season can be a meaningful time to strike up a conversation about how to use the green stuff in happier ways.
“The benefits of giving emerge among children before the age of two.”
– Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, Happy Money
Setting up a Share jar for charitable donations can even help our children foster more gratitude. You can read more about the allowance / Share jar / gratitude connection in this essay.
And if you’re looking for a place to put your own Share jar money to use, then the Giving Tuesday site has some ideas for you. No matter where you choose to donate, remember that Giving Tuesday is tomorrow! 🫶
As I often remind you, we’re on the road to money smarts with our kids. And just like with any journey, there will be ups and downs. So let’s do our best to be mindful throughout the holiday season.
Enjoy the journey!
John, Chief Mammal
P.S. Please consult with a financial or investment professional before engaging in any decisions that might affect your own financial well-being.
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