I know that in our traditional education, money education and sex education are the most difficult for parents to talk about, but it is precisely these two that we, as parents, should give to our children as soon as possible.
With regard to financial and business education, I have accumulated a lot of experience with my two children in recent years. Today, I will share with you the characteristics of the two stages of financial management before the age of 5 and the corresponding financial and business education, hoping to help the subject ~
The first stage: before the age of 3, teach children to know money.
Understanding money is the first step of financial and business education.
From 1 year-old, children gradually understand where money is used in life and the basic use of money.
We can help children understand what "money" is and what "money" is through role-playing or board games for small monopolists.
(1) Toy House Simulation Fruit Shop
When my brother Joshua 1 8 months old, the game I played with my children was a simulated shop game. Let children play the role of shopkeepers and customers themselves, and sell common daily necessities as commodities.
For example, Joshua and I are on both sides of the chair, and there are many fruit and vegetable stickers on the chair. I cut A4-sized white paper into 8 pieces in half, and wrote "1" on each piece of paper as 1 yuan.
The rules of the game are also very simple. I will ask the child, "Mr. Lamb, I am a rabbit. I want to buy carrots. Can you give them to me? "
After Joshua selects carrots for me, I will hand him a piece of paper with 1 yuan written on it and tell him, "Thank you, Mr. Lamb. Here is 1 yuan. I want to buy this carrot."
At the beginning, children may not be able to enter the role immediately, so we need to communicate more in the early stage.
Joshua started to speak words late, and it was about 1 year, 10 months before he could speak the fourth and fifth words. When he started playing this game, his performance was more like a pantomime. I often laugh that this is a fruit shop between a silent big boss and a chattering little customer. )
After playing too much, I will use the following words to strengthen children's awareness of commodity trading:
Mr lamb, how much is each apple? I only have three dollars in my hand now (spread out the three bills in my hand). How much can I give you for 1 apple? "(Joshua points to one of the pieces of paper)
"oh! You want 1 yuan, right? So if I give you 1 yuan, will you give me 1 apple? " (Joshua usually nods)
"Yes, Mr Lamb, thank you very much. Then 1 yuan buys 1 apples, I want to buy two, I will give you two yuan, will you give me two apples? " At first, Joshua would stand there and think about my words. Later, he gradually became familiar with my "routine" and knew how to deal with it. Give me two apples and take two bills from me. )
Combine simple digital enlightenment with financial and business enlightenment, and don't underestimate the signal I add every time. In fact, every time I add an amount of information, I give my child a new cognitive point.
(2) Shopping list board game
My brother is about 1 year and a half after his birth, and my brother is almost 3 years old.
I integrated my brother's and younger brother's cognition at different stages and improved the fruit shop house game. At this time, I chose the shopping list board game.
I chose the shopping list of orchard toys for two children at that time. The feature is that the younger children can start playing with matching games first, and the older children can also directly enter richer scene simulations.
Because my younger brother is young, we basically play this game at 2V 1, and I team up with my younger brother.
Let's talk about the basic matching of buying and selling first, and then I'll add the little link of "paying the bill" when I'm done.
I use the stars of another set of toys at home as "money" I give my brother and brother five stars every time. A star represents 1 money, and each money can only buy 1 thing. So he can only buy five things at a time.
My brother is still playing the basic business guide. For example, the younger brother can be understood as 1 star 1 replaceable item, and two stars correspond to two.
There are brothers, the rules will be more complicated, for example, we will discuss the procurement of necessities in depth:
There are two necessities when choosing things, bread, milk and eggs. If you have other things you want to buy, you need to use the extra money to buy them.
The second stage: 3 to 5 years old, guide children to use money.
(1) Supermarket Shopping Family Financial Plan
Children can be involved in family financial planning after they are 3 years old.
The most common "financial management" thing I do with my children is to go to the supermarket with them, prepare to buy or deal with things at home with them, and plan and compare prices together.
Before we leave, we should check the shopping list at home. The content is to make each shopping list game realistic and arrange our catalogue.
After arriving at the supermarket, I need the children to help me look at the price tag, compare the price with me, and finally determine the goods I want to buy.
When checking out, my brother is responsible for calculating the total price. (Although you can only count with your fingers ...)
Before, we will also bring changes and let children feel the process of change. Nowadays, mobile payment is so developed that children just need to hold my mobile phone and let the cashier scan the code to pay.
At this time, the two children will get together excitedly, look at the numbers above and say, "Mom, we spent 589.4 yuan today and got a 2.6 yuan Alipay red envelope".
It is an important part of the supermarket buying experience to let children feel the numbers, including the price of goods and the price of preferential activities.
After visiting the supermarket several times, you will find that children will gradually look for the price information on the goods when they see the labels.
Children have actually entered the pre-conscious stage of financial management, which also means that children have entered a deeper stage of financial management.
(2) Teach children to distinguish between needs and wants.
The first real money-related problem that children encounter when they grow up is probably the "Mom, I want to buy" problem that most parents have a headache.
If parents simply respond "no, no money" or "yes, no money" at this time, it is precisely because they missed the enlightenment of their children's second-stage financial guidance.
At this time, we should not only let children know that money is a very important part of family life, but also let them know what is "necessity" and "expectation", that is, what is needed and what is wanted.
We can let children understand this concept slowly by discussing life affairs with them.
For example, the shopping list board game mentioned earlier, when my two children and I participate in the purchase of "necessities" and "expectations", I will say this:
Communication of necessities:
Listen, we have to buy rice, facial tissues, fish and vegetables for dinner tonight. This is what we need, because if there is no rice, we will starve. If there is no tissue, there is no way to wipe your mouth. If there are no fish and vegetables, then we will have nothing to eat tonight. These are the necessities of our life, and we need them very much. "
Improve the judgment of discrimination against children;
"Brother, you chose this piece of cereal. Do you want this cereal or this cereal? "
Improving children's self-management ability;
Our task today is to buy necessities first. Brother, you can choose what you want to buy and pay the bill with us. Remember, everyone can only choose one, so you should make a good choice. "
You will find that many times, children's judgments on necessities and expectations are vague.
For example, when my brother chooses toy cars and rice, he resolutely regards toy cars as necessities. At this time, there is no need to forcibly reject the child's idea, he can conveniently put forward:
"Oh, mom knows that toy cars are my brother's necessities. Rice is also a necessity for mothers. "
In the process of children's growth, there are countless dialogues, but there are no standard answers. The key is how to discuss with children. Sometimes, I think the answer is a question around a big principle:
"Why do children ask?"
When we decide to look at children's problems with a relaxed attitude, in fact, according to this question, we have at least 10 seconds to seriously think about possible answers. In this way, we are actually providing children with countless kinds of thinking training, comparative analysis, correction and adjustment, and reconstruction.
The traditional education we have received since childhood is that "money is the root of all evil", which is not suitable for children of any age to talk about money.
But if we don't talk about money, we won't use it. After all, when discussing financial and business education, we should still implant planning, responsibility and value into children's hearts and make money a tool of education.
It may take more than ten years for our generation to form its own concept of money, but our next generation is destined to perceive the function, function and function of money faster and earlier than we do in the ever-changing social process.
Life is a huge melting pot. If you don't teach your children, life will eventually teach them, not yourself. So talking about money seriously, starting with the most basic and systematic financial and business enlightenment, is the best financial and business course we can give our children.