Preparing the child for the real world should be more of approaching it with practical techniques. Today, our society is filled with influences that are rather uncharitable. Hence, cultivating the right habit for the child is a necessity. We will agree that some of these things are not inborn traits in a child but can be taught. The act of saving helps the child to be accountable. Children are visibly innocent of a lot of things as their minds can be fragile; it is the responsibility of an adult to consciously teach the child to be prudent. What do we mean by SAVING???
According to the Longman dictionary, saving is an amount of money that you have not spent or an amount of something that you have not used.
In a typical African family, children are taught to keep the proceeds of gifts like money and material things in order to show their parents before any form of usage. Sometimes parents collect these things from the child to keep for them, or even confiscate them. This does not help the child to understand the value of things, sometimes the child even feels his/her parents must have made use of these proceeds and they are left not to think about it anymore.
In terms of money, this is a legal means of exchange that can be relevant for many years. Although, there is always an immediate need for money but the child is relatively not responsible for him/herself, hence, the child can be expected to prepare for the future with prudent savings.
How do you teach the child to save?
- Encourage them to keep money in a piggybank
- Encourage them to have bookkeeping
- Donate it to a member of the family to help keep it
- Encourage them to set a target for the entire year
- Encourage them to watch the savings grow
Savings will eventually help a child to build discipline which is an important attribute in the child’s development.