When kids begin collecting coins in piggy banks and start begging for toys in stores, they are ready for an introduction to financial decision-making. At this very young age, children are connecting the dots – money buys things that they want. The time is ripe for teaching the building blocks of money and choices.
However, by age 18 or 19, when students are sent to college, released into the free world unprepared and ignorant, it is often too late to prevent financial mistakes and curb unhealthy spending patterns.
The Kansas Council on Economic Education (KCEE), hosted at Wichita State University, believes that kids can and must be taught the basics of economics and personal finance starting from childhood – and the earlier, the better.
That’s why KCEE is encouraging parents to take initiative to start conversations with their kids as part of the Thursday, Sept. 16, National Money Night Talk, a platform sponsored by American Express, finance expert Jean Chatzky and the Council for Economic Education. The idea behind the event is simply that parents and children should sit down together for an evening to discuss financial responsibility.
To assist parents who might not know how to teach their kids, KCEE and NexLearn LLC are offering a free, easy-to-use, interactive resource that families can encounter together. The Financial Foundation for Kids (FF4Kids) program is a set of interactive computer lessons, starring such characters as Buddy Bargain and Sydney Good¢ents, who introduce concepts such as saving, budgeting and borrowing.
The resource can provide an accurate foundation of information upon which parents can build with personal stories and experiences. It can be stopped and started, is entertaining and requires little preparation before use.
Access to FF4Kids will be available free only for one night on Sept. 16. To use it with your family, visit www.kcee.wichita.edu.
Although KCEE’s usual endeavors involve working in schools, KCEE supports financial literacy education in the home, where parents can have a vital role in a child’s financial formation.
KCEE’s president, Jim Graham, says that everyone must work together in order to ensure that K-12 youths are becoming literate in economics and personal finance, so they can be ready for adulthood. This is the mission of the council.
Procrastination can be pricey when it comes to teaching about financial responsibility. This September parents have an opportunity to make a positive change by engaging their kids in financial conversations. Better to teach them now, while they are young, than to watch them become strapped with debt as adults.
To learn more about FF4Kids, visit www.ff4kids.com or contact KCEE at (316) 978-5183.
Read more about the National Money Night Talk and view event resources at www.moneynighttalk.com.