My Kids Are Always Asking Me for Money. It's Hard to Say No to Them, So How Do I Get Them Involved in Our Family Budget?

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Children can be involved in a family budget. In fact, we encourage active participation by all family members in our Project Money competition. Participants with children have told us that bringing their kids into conversations around money has helped prepare them for their financial future and even helped curb the “asking for money” issue you describe.

Depending on your kid’s ages, here are a few ideas:

• Going to the grocery store? Let’s say you budgeted $100 to spend. Including them on what the family will eat with that $100 will give them a math challenge and set a natural limit on how many snacks to include. Involve your kids in the family’s budgeting and planning. Ask for input and feedback about the budget that directly affects them, like groceries.
• Understanding how much is set aside each year for gifts is something you can work on at almost any age. If they know you will spend $50 on their birthday, they’re likely to develop their list of ideas more thoughtfully, considering how badly they may want certain things.
• Going on a vacation or stay-cation? Plan it out together, including daily spending limits. That will help drive food and activity choices and tradeoffs. “We can do this and this but not these things. If we do this more expensive activity, that will be the only one for the day.” I have found that most of the time, they don’t think about how much the activity is when you pay for the entire family.
• When they are in middle and high school, consider sharing monthly expenses with them such as how much your electric bill is. Create a competition around how the family can lower the bill over a six-month period. Even simple things, like unplugging appliances not in use, saves electricity. You might even get them to turn the lights off when they leave the room (smile). Creativity in reducing this expense can be fun. And, the electric bill savings could go toward something the family wants to do together. You and your teens can do the same thing with other bills like:
• Your car payments (mark on the calendar when it will be paid off and then put the same amount of payment into a savings for your next car down payment)
• Car insurance (discounts for good grades and driving records)
• You can also add budgeting options throughout the year for school-aged kids. This month, you could provide a list of tasks that would help get ready for the holidays and allow them to earn money for their own giving. I used to put money in an envelope each week of summer break and my kids could decide how they would spend it. Once it was gone, it was gone, unless they wanted to earn more through different tasks around the house.• If you have a young adult in the family, I’d highly recommend you visit SummitCreditUnion.com’s Money Smarts page and check out FoolProofTM. It’s an online resource by and for young adults geared to help them avoid costly money mistakes.
• You might set a family savings goal that everyone is excited about and that they can help you reach. Experiencing the reward of saving is powerful.

All of these things help to create a good understanding of how much things cost and a foundation for budgeting skills when they are adults. You’re giving them a long-lasting gift in their first steps to financial independence.