MSI Press Blog

  / Excerpt from  Clean Your Plate!  (Bayardelle)  -   Chapter 1 Do You Need Any Money?  (continued from November 22, 2024) The Need for Need  We’ve discussed the “supply” end of your kid’s finances, but the “demand” side should also get a little bit of attention. The point of having a financial system is to teach your kids how to manage their money as an adult, but they don’t have those pesky expenses we have as adults. We grown-up folk go to work every day because without our salary we can’t afford things like food or rent. This is a pretty significant motivator. Unfortunately, there’s no driving force quite so urgent in your child’s financial ecosystem. No matter what chores they do (or don’t do), you’re going to pay for their food, housing, school, and other necessary expenses, so why bother taking the garbage out?  This is when the art of creating valid needs comes in. You never want to deprive your child of the necessities, b...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly (yes, those are the two talented teachers). #22 Chores   He did each single thing as if he did nothing else. ~Charles Dickens   Studies show that having your child help with basic household chores does more than just get the house clean. By taking charge of a chore, a child learns about responsibility, consequences, planning ahead, establishing a goal, and planning how to reach it. (Not to mention the satisfaction that comes from a job well done!) Giving your child too many chores may become overwhelming, though. Experiment to find an arrangement that works well for everyone involved.   The workbook on the 365teachersecrests.com website contains a sample chore chart.          Cindy McKinley Alder                     ...

  / Excerpt from  Clean Your Plate!  (Bayardelle)  -   Chapter 1 Do You Need Any Money?  (continued from May 22, 2024) So, How Do Kids Get Money?  So, now that we can all agree kids need some kind of financial experience, the questions become how do we give them money, how much should they get, and what (if any) rules should be attached to the way they spend it? We’ll go over each of these questions in the upcoming sections, but before we go any further, I want to make one thing very clear: not all household chores should be paid.  The Case for Unpaid Chores   There is a wealth of psychological research that demonstrates the long-term benefits of having kids do chores. Kids who were given chores at home have been shown to have better social relationships and higher grades, get better early-career jobs, and manifest a higher degree of self-sufficiency (M. Rossman, 2002, cited in Wallace, 2015).  These findings were strongest ...