Explaining to a child the basics and importance of the money market, personal budget and financial planning is not a trivial task. Several financial games will help parents of future bankers in this.
Experts from various fields advise teaching children about frugality, financial budgeting and planning financial goals throughout their adult life. Moreover, at each age, this needs to be done in different ways, but you can start from kindergarten.
Based on personal experience from childhood, as well as communication with children and her parents and articles, books, columns read at different times, the Banki.ru columnist has come up with several games (except for "Monopoly") that will teach children how to handle money and "think financially" …
Play Buy-Sell
Ask your child to set up a kind of bazaar: let him put several of his toys on any horizontal surface and set prices for them. Ask your son or daughter to explain why a particular product "got" its price (so you will at the same time find out what your baby appreciates in his own microcosm). After reading the "price list", start bargaining with your child, trying to bring down the price. Then you can switch roles. What is especially pleasant: the bazaar can subsequently be replaced by the same stock market (although the rules will change somewhat here).
What develops. Logic, economic thinking, cunning (as you know, it is not a vice), the ability to defend and form one's own opinion, communication skills, oral and written counting.
We play "Provision of services"
If your child does not like to do some housework (for example, taking out the trash or washing the dishes), assign him a monetary reward for this activity. An important condition: in order to get money, the task will have to be completed as efficiently as possible. Just try to play the "customer of services" infrequently, otherwise your child may refuse to perform even the simplest tasks for free - you quickly get used to good things.
What develops. Willpower, accuracy, diligence, discipline, responsibility. As a bonus, your child will feel what work means.
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We play "Now you are an adult"
Swap roles with your child for the day or evening. Let him become a dad in charge of the family's budget (or a mom - if it is customary in your family). It is best to use fake money, alternatively you can choose bills from a joke store. The fact is that scanning real or printing out banknotes downloaded from the Internet can lead to sad consequences, according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Divide your family budget by 10 or 100 to make it easier for the child to count, hand him the resulting amount and ask him to distribute the money for a month (in writing or by hand). Let the child form the budget himself first, and you explain the missing items and the reasons for their importance.
What develops. Responsibility, discipline, short-term financial planning, economic thinking, oral and written account.
Playing Little Banker
In fact, this financial game is for all time. Because it can be improved depending on the age of your child. As soon as your “flower of life” learns to count, appoint him as an accountant in your fictitious bank (a separate point of fun here will be a discussion of the name of the credit institution being created). The child can count toy money, or maybe, for example, seeds or apples (at the same time, study the concept of "barter"). A student of junior and middle grades can be offered a more difficult task - to become the chief accountant of a bank. Everything will come in handy here: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions. With a high school student, you can develop a full-fledged business plan for a small bank.
What develops. Verbal and written counting, creative thinking, communication skills, responsibility, discipline, short-term and long-term financial planning, economic thinking, dedication, commitment, leadership qualities. With the help of this game, the child will gain knowledge of how it is to be a subordinate and to be a boss. It is highly likely that he will like being the boss, and in adult life he will begin to strive for this goal - which is not a joy for a parent.
We play "Debt by payment is beautiful"
Borrow something from the child and return it to him with interest. For example, instead of one tangerine, return one tangerine and one wedge (bank loan scheme) or three tangerines (microfinance loan scheme) after a week. A particularly creative task can be "knocking out debt" - of course, not by physical means, but through negotiations. (The skills of a good collector can be useful for parents in the educational process as well.)
Be sure to explain to your teenager the difference between short-term, medium-term and long-term loans, as well as loans and borrowings, pay special attention to secured lending (car loans and mortgages), and also tell the principles of interest-free installments and remind you of the need to take a receipt from a friend who borrowed any amount.
What develops. Mindfulness, communication skills, verbal and written counting, patience, perseverance, determination, resourcefulness.
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Play Financial Football
Play the most ordinary football with your child. But assign a small cash prize for each goal. Stand at the gate and try not to give in! (Well, maybe a couple of times.) Who knows, what if this game motivates your child to become a famous football player in the future! Football can be replaced with any other available sport, and material rewards can be substituted for sweetness. In fact, even just throwing the ball to each other on the principles of "one serve - one question", "one correct answer - one prize" will do, and you can "chase" your son or daughter according to the school curriculum - at the same time you will do your homework.
What develops. Will to win, physical stamina, leadership qualities, strategic thinking and a little greed, so don't play this game often and for large sums! In lieu of, or in conjunction with, physical achievement, school achievement can also be encouraged.
Playing Monopoly
Yes, yes, we will end with the simplest simulator of real life (albeit starting with a fairly full wallet). "Monopoly" or another board game in which you have to keep track of your budget and plan expenses together with income is a great option for practicing these skills for a small citizen. You can even create a similar game yourself - from chips and game currency to rules and game penalties.
What develops. Mindfulness, perseverance (one batch of the same "Monopoly" lasts long enough), short-term financial planning, economic thinking, dedication, oral and written counting.
While playing each of these games, the child should be given the idea that the money received should not be spent on every minute joys, but that it is necessary to save up in order to subsequently buy something truly valuable and desirable. To do this, you can discuss with the child in advance what he dreams of, calculate with him how much he needs to "earn" every day or every month (depending on the high cost of the goal) and plan a "financial route" to achieve a material goal.
Extremely important! Never set an enrollment in a sports or creative circle or other activities aimed at the child's self-development as a material goal for your son or daughter. These goals go beyond your child's “earnings” and should be supported whenever possible, no matter what.
What financial games do you practice with your child?
Anna DUBROVSKAYA, Banki.ru
