PSP players, Xbox’s and iphones; as our children have more and more responsibility with products of value, it seems concern is rapidly rising regarding the ability to understand the genuine value of money and the need to manage their finances in the future.
It’s no longer just about the amount of pocket money our children are getting, but what they’re doing with it as well.
Nationwide and the Personal Finance Education Group confirm 69% of parents questioned are concerned about their children’s ability to understand their finances – a 7% rise in the number of parents concerned about this issue two years ago.
And although the consensus is that the responsibility to teach these lessons are down to the parents just as much as the schools – the worrying factor is that those parents asked, admitted, they’re not sure they can!
I wonder if these admissions don’t just come from a lack of understanding of maths and finance, but also, from a fear of recognition to admit to their children, the experiences of debt and recovery they have gone through during these hard times.
So, how do we deal with this? Is this something parents and schools could be working on together, rather than separately? Could it be that money management classes can be held after school hours for parents and children to do together? Therefore, not only serving as a finance lesson for both, but acting as a modern day family activity which unites the unit as one, and makes it clear that everyone is working towards the same goal, regardless of their age.
So….what do you think? Is this something we could be campaigning for to schools across the country? Let me know what you think here.
