Teaching Kids About Finances with M is For Money. #MisforMoney
M is for Money.
Financial literacy is something that I think that should be taught early. A large portion of today’s youth and young adults aren’t financially literate and for that reason, they don’t make the best decisions when it comes to money. This is the very reason why we as parents should start having conversations when our kids are young. It educates them and creates a good habit that will help them their entire lives.
Gabby is older and gets an allowance for doing chores and gets a portion from when she helps me with my work. She started saving with a piggy bank when she was 4 years-old and now she has a bank account and debit card. She’s learned to be responsible with her money and to save for items or experiences she wants. If she doesn’t want anything, she lets it grow.
Now, Mimi is a few years younger and she is just starting to learn about money. When I had the chance to try out M is for Money and to use them as tools to help her learn, I was stoked. There’s nothing like being able to teach your child something that can be mundane and make it fun for them.
The Books!
M is for Money is a series of books that help children learn all about money. Mimi is at the perfect age where she is wanting to add coins to her piggy bank. She helps around the house with small chores and her grandparents, aunt and uncle all give her money as well.
Right now, she is using the piggy bank Gabby used to use and she loves clinking in her coins or bills. She can differentiate between the coins and bills and is anxious to learn more about saving money. We are getting closer to opening up a savings account for her too. So, these books are perfectly timely!
Start a Conversation.
M is for Money was created by Teresa Cascioli, a daughter of Italian immigrants who worked very hard to make it in Canada. I can definitely relate to her as we were immigrants when we came to Canada. The books are excellent tools for parents who want to start teaching their kids about the importance of money and saving. They are aimed for children between 5-9 years-old and though Gabby is older, she’s enjoyed reading them to her sister.
You’ll be able to follow the adventures of twins Tessa and Benji as they learn about Canadian currency, budgeting, visiting a bank, saving and more.
We read “The Little Piggy Bank: What is Money?”, “The Little Lemonade Stand: Working for Our Coins.” and “The Little Trip to the Bank: The Big, Big Piggy Bank.” You can get the full series on misformoney.ca or if you prefer to pick them up, they are available at Indigo/Chapters. Mimi loved them and is excited to get started!
Goodies!
On top of the book series, Tess & Benji have made some extra fun stuff! There’s Birthday Party invitations for Boys and Girls, colouring books, magnets, bookmarks, “Great Job”, “Well Done” and “You Did It” note pads and more! The books and goodies are fun ways to learn about money, to get excited about it and to make it fun. Once they grow up and have to pay bills, well–that wanes a little bit. But, at least they will have a great foundation to make good choices as adults.
Talk to Our Kids About Money Day!
To prepare for this day, stock up on M is for Money books and get ready to have even more conversation about money on April 20th. You can check out the Talk with Our Kids About Money Day website and find free tools and resources to help you educate your kids towards financial literacy.
Do your kids earn and save money yet?
Let me know, til then–cheers m’deres!
Nancy Polanco is a freelance journalist, lifestyle content creator, and editor of Whispered Inspirations. She is a proud Mom to Gabby and Michaela and partner and best friend to Darasak. Having worked as part of a health care team for almost a decade, Nancy is happy to be back to her passion. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, TODAY’s Parents, and an Oprah Magazine Brand Ambassador.
Its very important to talk to children about the value of money,i like the books and goodies to get the kids really interested.
I agree, very important! 🙂
Teaching good financial habits is so important. I wish it was standard curriculum for every school
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Would be great if it was everywhere but, this series is a great alternative to teach them at home before they get to school.
That's such a great idea! I really believe that kids today have no real grasp of money or what it means to manage it effectively.
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I agree, it is a domino effect and it rolls into investing and more. Since they do not have the knowledge. Great to start early!
What a fun, creative and educational way to get kids interested in learning about money! This is a pretty brilliant program!
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I agree, such a great series to get the conversation going!
This seems like a great resource for parents to use with their kids! I think it's so important that we teach our kids about finances.
Very important! That is for sure!
What a great "true-to-life" story! Your girls are real cuties. Starting conversations about money when your children are young will give them a solid foundation for their financial future. It is all too easy now to "click" and "buy". If children do not understand the fundamentals, they will be on shaky ground in the future. Well done Nancy! Good luck with your little ones.
Financially yours,
Teresa Cascioli
Entrepreneur, Philanthropist & Author
Thank-you so much for stopping by Teresa and for creating these books! The girls love the books and they are excited to continue learning and putting what they learned into practice.
These sound like really great books that would be perfect for my daughter. Thanks for the info!
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My pleasure, hope she likes them!
My kids love when they get money! I have been working with them to learn to save while they spend, my girls are getting it but my son loves to spend right away!
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That is funny, that is why it is always great to teach them about money young! 🙂
It's so important to teach children at a younger age about money. These books are such great learning tools.
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They really are such great tools!
What a great idea for teaching kids about money! I know my son learns the best when it's fun at the same time. It's so true that kids need to learn how to manage their money at a young age.
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Definitely. I know my kids learn better that way too!
Money isn't easy to talk about, so it's great to start young! I love that resources like M is for Money exist now to make it easier on parents. Just takes the guesswork out of it!
Also, makes it fun too! 🙂
My kids are just getting to the age where money means something to them. I will have to get them these books to read.
That is great!
I'm always trying to teach my kids good money habits but I don't have a good system. This would be very helpful. Thank you for sharing!
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My pleasure, they will definitely help and get the conversation started.
Those books sound awesome. I need to get them for my boys!
They are awesome, I must admit.
I think teaching kids about money is very important. This seems like a good set of books to do just that.
The books are awesome!
I am always trying to teach my kids about money — even as old as they are. It starts young though. If you take the time when they are little, then when they are older, they will use their money wisely.
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It is easy to fall into problems the older they get without knowing!
This is something that should be started when kids are very young. Giving them a sound financial understanding is so important.
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Perfectly said Liz!
I think it is so important to start teaching kids at a young age so they can being practicing responsible finance habits.
I agree, it is so essential.
That's pretty awesome. It's good to start early when it comes to teaching kids about handling money, so they'll learn the value of it and know how to save. This sounds like a great way to help them understand what money is all about.
They are great books!
Fantastic idea, you can't stress this early enough!
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I completely agree!
Oh this is so cool. It's nice to give them some early education on this subject. They don't teach that much about it in school.
They really do not! Good to teach them at home too!
These books sound great! I think that teaching kids about money can be fun. To kids money is this mysterious thing that can get them candy and cool stuff – there's an incentive to learn with a lot of kids.
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I agree!
This is really a awesome books for my two boys. Glad you share this
Great to hear.
What a great books for my nieces. I bet they love this
Hope you pick up some!
I love this book. I bet my kids love this
I am sure they would!
I love collecting and reading books! My son would love this.
I love how educational they are too!
I would to do teach kids about how to save money, how i work so hard for all the money i got so that i can support his/her/their needs and makes them realize that it's not really easy/.
It definitely is not easy!
I love this idea! It's so important that they know that they need to save!
It ripples from there!
It is important to talk about it. One of the quickest ways to give kids a head start in their adult lives, is to teach them about money when they are kids.
They really do need a good foundation!
Seems like a great tool to help teach kids about money. It's definitely important that they learn this 🙂
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Extremely important!
Great info, thank you for sharing!!
I also wanted to drop a note and invite you to come join us at Sunday's Simple Homemaker Link-Up. Would love to have you link-up!!
Thanks!
Love this it’s so important to teach kids about money
I have a fridge board with extra’s around the house i never get to and it’s a job with a payment if the grandkids want to earn money they can pick which job they want and upon completion they get paid.They are doing good at earning but they are also saving for something they really want.
WOW, that is a great idea!!