Kids Learn About Money by Modelling You

By Nicole Clemow

Whatever you demonstrate to your children on a daily basis about how you manage and spend your money is giving them the opportunity either to choose to do what you do, or not. The period of development from birth to seven years old is referred to as the imprint period. It is the period of their life that children copy what people do in the world around them without conscious awareness. The people they spend most of their time with are who they will most likely choose to copy or model.

Who did you spend most of your imprint period (up to seven years old) with? With whom did your spouse spend most of their imprint period?

Realizing this modeling happened for you as a child, really important questions to ask and thoroughly consider include:

- What did you model from your parents (or significant adults in your life) about money?

-Which decisions did you make to purposefully NOT model things from them?

- Are you still modeling from them?

- How is that working for you?

- Did you choose new models along the way?

- Did your new models for financial management improve your financial situation?

- Which of your financial management habits and strategies are helping you move toward financial freedom and which are holding you back?

Whatever models you have chosen to use in the past, the great news is that it is up to you who you chose to model from this point forward. Choose the behaviors around money you want your children to see and do in their future. Just make sure you check in and see what results the people you choose as models are achieving for themselves before you consciously make the effort to start learning and doing what they do!

Here's a great example, a friend of mine has a clothing retail business situated in her local shopping center which she has run for over 5 years. She has a 3 year old daughter Emily who occasionally goes to work with her. One of Emily's favorite things to do is to play shop. She greets the customer, thanks them for their purchase and asks the customer how they'd like to pay; "Will that be cash or credit?". When Emily plays the customer, she goes to the wall and punches in her PIN number to get 'money out of the wall'. Where do you think she learned this behavior?
Nicole Clemow is the author and can provide additional information on teaching your kids the value of money and ways for them to earn it. Visit http://www.waysforkidstoearnmoney.org and get your free chapter from her "Teach Your Kids the Value of Money" book.

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