As a mum, this is something that is a constant challenge for me. Do I give them pocket money? Do they have to work for it? What if one kid wants to earn money and is eager to do every job possible, and the other is too busy trying to keep up with school work to do anything more than that?

Where do I draw the line? How do I treat kids the same when they’re not? How do I reward them the same when they’re doing different things?

One kid saves like a demon, the other spends like there is no tomorrow. One longingly looks at all the luxury cars and branded clothing. The other couldn’t care about appearances. One wants to travel the world and explore every hidden corner. The other is happy with a ball in the park or playing in the waves at the beach.

Right now I am in awe of teachers. How can they teach a room full of 20-30 different kids the same thing when I struggle with the massive differences between my four kids? How do I teach them the value of money?

The only things that I can do are:

  1. teach by example. They see my husband and I working together towards our goals. Budgeting, saving, making conscious decisions about spending and talking about future plans. They see us working hard and enjoying our work and the rewards it brings.
  2. be consistent. This is key for me. I used to be a fabulous consistent spendaholic. Now I am consciously a consistent mindful spender. But that consistency of mindset and action is what makes a difference to me.
  3. keep the conversation open. We talk about things. What they want, the sacrifices they may need to make, the rewards those sacrifices will bring, the time it may take, the things they could do to speed things up, the things that will slow them down on their pursuit of their goal.

Every day in my job I’m talking to people about money and it’s quite amazing how many adults have hang-ups about money that they’ve inherited from their parents. They either grew up with a scarcity of money, a disrespect of money, an easy come/easy go attitude and sometimes a constant thirst for more.

Whatever their family attitude to money is, there usually comes a time that they need to unpack that and re-jig it to an attitude and behaviours that work for them.

So I’m trying to get the foundations of mindful spending and respect for money ingrained from an early age.

But it’s not easy.

What have you learnt and had to unlearn from your parents’ teachings? What are you teaching your kids about money and its value?