Teaching Financial Responsibility to Young Children Sparks Controversy
How old were your kids when you started teaching them financial responsibility? The New York Post says Samantha Bird went viral for charging her elementary school-aged children living expenses. The millennial mom gives each of her kids a weekly allowance, but requires them to set part of the money aside for rent, groceries, and utilities. She believes it is important to teach financial responsibility early in life. The children are ages 6, 8, and 9. Samantha says, “They track it on their budget trackers and other spending or categories happen after those payments. They set that dollar in a separate envelope for utilities, and then at the beginning of the next month, we charge them for their bill.”
I am torn about Samantha Bird’s approach to teaching financial responsibility to her young children. On one hand, there’s a strong argument for instilling these lessons early in life. Learning to manage money, budget, and understand the concept of expenses are the skills that I wish I learned in college. I learned how to balance a check book in grammar school, but by the time I actually needed the skills I had forgotten them.
I get why you would want to set up your children earlier in their life for success you hope they achieve later in life. Samantha’s intention to introduce her kids to financial responsibility at a young age does seem like an important lesson. Especially when we look at the amount of people who have major credit debt that they can not seem to get out of in today’s world.
I am also considering the potential negative consequences of exposing children to the concept of bills and expenses at a very early age. I like some people who commented on Samantha’s post, worry that this could lead to undue stress or anxiety about money. Childhood is a time for exploration, learning, and play. I think by introducing the pressures of financial responsibility too early could rob these kids out of their childhood by having them grow up too fast. We should not take away the innocence and freedom from these kids that should come with this stage of life.
Reactions to Teaching Kids Financial Responsibility
The reactions on TikTok have various opinions. Some viewers applaud Samantha for her approach to teaching her children about finances. Others expressed concern about the psychological impact of such an early introduction to financial responsibility.
“First, I was like, wow this is ridiculous. Then I was like, man I wish I learned this at any point of my life!”
“No need for this. School will teach them all they need to know. Like parallelograms. Which comes in handy during parallelogram season.”
“They’re too young for this. Chances are they’ll become hyper-fixated on money and be over-anxious about it. I speak from experience.”
“Kids this age absolutely do not need to learn about expenses and bills. This is a perfect setup for creating financial anxiety.”
Whether Samantha’s approach is beneficial or detrimental may depend on the individual personalities of her children. It seems like a harmless manner in which she is implementing these lessons to her young kids. It’s essential to strike a balance between teaching financial responsibility and ensuring that children have the opportunity to enjoy their childhood without giving them worries about money.
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