First things first, let’s get one thing straight and out of the way—money shouldn’t be a difficult or a stressful topic to talk about, especially with children. Au contraire, rather look at it as merely a tool to help us manage our daily lives.
Now, does that help put us in a better perspective?
Too often, parents do not see the importance of talking about finances with their young children as, in their best intention, they do not want to ‘pass the stress to their kids’.
While it is true that children need not know of or share the financial burden of the parents, early exposure to the topic, however, will help in building financial confidence and encouraging financial responsibility.
It is important then to avoid saying things like, “Oh, mummy has no money!”, or “My goodness, so many bills, this is so stressful!”, or even “We are paying a lot for your school fees, so you better study hard!”—these seemingly innocent remarks will etch a deep mark in the child’s impressionable young mind and form negative concepts and attitude towards money.
Children learn by seeing what adults do, so let’s walk the talk!
Approaching the topic is not difficult but it does require consistency and a little creativity.
Let’s Talk
Talking about money is a good place to start but remember, not negatively!
Firstly, you don’t necessarily need to sit the child down and be all serious.
Instead, try sharing about the bargains you find at the market, start a saving jar for a certain purpose like a family vacation or birthday treat, or even involve them when deciding on an eatery when dining out in the weekend.
Financial gurus encourage parents to use words like ‘save’, ‘choose’, and ‘share’ in our everyday conversation—talking about saving for holidays and gifts helps the child not to take the nice things in life for granted.
Additionally, making a choice between this and that sets an example of deciding on things that give the best value for money, and sharing something we bought with others puts actions into our talk about being kind and generous.
Let’s Go
Why not give your child the free hand to create a grocery shopping list and bring him or her to the grocer?
Involving children in a task is the best way for them to learn! Seeing their list added to the cart helps them visualise and put things in perspective.
While at the store, you may point out alternatives to an item and lead them to make a conscious consumer decision based on price and quality.
Let’s Start Making
“Mum and dad are the adults who are earning money”—is what many children may know.
Now, how about sharing the role a little with little Tim and Jane?
Older kids ages 7 and onwards are actually ready to talk about making money. Bouncing off ‘business’ ideas is a fun and educational family activity.
Starting a business takes a lot of consideration from every angle—What to sell? Physical product or online service? Where to get the cheapest but the best quality supplies? How to manage my time juggling business with studies? What is a reasonable start-up cost? Where to get that start-up investment? And the list goes on!
When the child realises that he or she plays a part in spending, saving, and making money in the family, not just how everything is expensive and keep having the remark of “Don’t waste money!” nagged at them, that will be a start of a positive money-relationship which they will bring with them throughout all stages of their life.
Let’s Kickstart
Hey, now that you have a business proposal, it’s time you take it up a notch and encourage your child to take part in the Goodday Milk GOODDAY KidSTART programme!
It is Malaysia’s largest-ever kid-preneur programme aimed at catapulting the business dreams of bright, savvy, and passionate children between the ages of 7 and 14.
Launched on 21st November 2022, Goodday Milk wants to continue its commitment towards the community and children by bringing goodness in the form of financial literacy through entrepreneurship.
Amy Gan, Vice President of Marketing at Etika Sdn Bhd, said, “At Goodday Milk, we want to equip children with the right knowledge to develop strong money habits early on as this will ensure them a financially secure future. By instilling confidence and imparting skills required to fuel a child’s entrepreneurial spirit, we are teaching our future-driven generation to understand the concept of money so they can make responsible financial decisions.
She added, “We urge parents all over Malaysia to encourage their child’s participation and take this opportunity to showcase their talent and potential with the hopes of becoming Malaysia’s first Goodday KidSTART kid-preneur!”
Goodday, Good News!
Due to an overwhelming response, submission for the Goodday KidSTART programme is now extended to 25th January 2023 to make way for more potential kid-preneurs!
So, what are you waiting for, parents? DM a short video of your children’s pitches today to Goodday Milk Malaysia via their Facebook or Instagram pages!
The video should consist of:
- An introduction
- Their inspiration to start a business
- A quick elevator pitch of their idea
And that’s it! Your child will be in the running to be one of the 20 finalists to advance to the next stage to attend a 2-day intensive boot camp in February 2023.
The finalists will be mentored and taught the necessary skills to successfully pitch their ideas to a panel of judges featuring social entrepreneurs Anja Juliah Abu Bakar from Athena Empowers and Faridah Halina from Coffee for Good.
A prize pool of RM50,000 awaits the winners of the Goodday KidSTART to bring their business ideas to life!
So, no more putting off the idea of submitting—kickstart your children’s new year with Goodday KidSTART!
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/gooddaymilkmalaysia.
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