For many families, talking about money is taboo. The adults make it, the kids ask for it, end of story. Yet financial experts agree that understanding cash, credit, and consumerism is possible, and important, for building a sense of financial responsibility in children. How can you teach your kids about money? What kind of message should you teach them? Let's talk about money.

It's a Good Idea!
Ask your child about what a credit card is and how it works. Tell her it's a way to borrow money, and teach her that, unless you pay it back every month, everything you buy with a credit card is far more expensive than it would be if you paid cash. Model a cash economy yourself. Teach her the discipline of credit cards and you'll be doing her a very big financial favor.

The ABCs of Do-Re-Me
Kids need to know how the economy works. No, not stocks, interest rates, and world markets! I mean the basic ins and outs of a family economy. You can start when your kids are very young by helping them understand the difference between needs and wants, that money comes from working, what money looks like, and that everybody has a job (a kid's job is to learn things, to play, and to participate in the family). As they get older (once they know that a nickel is worth less than a dime, even though it's larger), you can talk with them about credit cards, bank interest, and so on. Kids can learn about budgeting from the time they are about seven. Remember that a solid money education is one of the best tools you can give your kids-it will aid them the rest of their lives.

Ethics Through Sharing
Part of a solid money education includes teaching your kids that, as a member of a community, as a responsible person, and as a world citizen, they have a responsibility to other people outside themselves and their family. That means sharing. We all live on a small planet together, and we are all linked. Teaching your kids a sense of social ethics includes a sense of charity or giving.