Money As You Grow

Every few months, my dad would take my brother and me to this incredible store called American Science and Surplus. It was like a mad scientist’s garage sale — an unorganized shop filled with cheap toys, doodads, science equipment, and everything else a young kid might need (or might think she needs).

I was fascinated with every item for sale, from the box of rocks, to the wide array of science-y looking stuff. My dad would give me a dollar or two and say, “You decide!”

I certainly didn’t know it, but in giving me the personal decision-making power over what to spend my limited money on, he was teaching me to be more financially responsible. Simple actions like this can have huge and lasting impacts on the overall financial health of kids as they grow.

Money as You Grow is an amazing resource for parents to help their kids think a little more critically about how, on what, and why money is spent. Created by the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, the site offers age-appropriate activities and tips for talking to kids about money. Starting at age three, where the site recommends explaining the difference between wants and needs, it progresses all the way up to the teen years, where it lists tips for talking about college choices, credit cards, and retirement funds.

From an early age, kids see money, touch money, want money, and sometimes even earn money. Money as You Grow offers easy activities to help ensure that they will have the knowledge to make smart financial decisions on their own. And that they won’t spend too much money on things they don’t need.