Recession - Teach your kids to save

Economic recession is taking its toll on the country. Many Americans right now are feeling the heat of these tight times as more and more people are losing their jobs and losing their homes. High prices on basic commodities is also making it harder for American families to survive without additional income.

During these times, people are thinking of ways on how to save. This is especially true with families that support one, two or more children. Between feeding them and sending them all to school, these families will surely have to scrimp on some areas in order to survive.

But parents should not be the only ones who should be scrimping. When it comes to saving money during economic recession, your children should also play important roles. In fact, you can use these tight times to teach your children about saving for the future and saving money. This will help them deal with tighter times in the future should they experience it when they have families of their own. Below are some of the ways that you can teach your children about saving up.

1. Explain to them
You may not realize it but kids do know what is going on and when you explain the situation to them clearly with examples that they can relate to, they will be able to understand the situation. Some will even help out of their own volition without you telling them to do so.

Telling them why they should do something is more effective than telling them outright what they should do. The latter will sometimes antagonize them or will cause them to rebel because they feel that you are ordering them. Kids, as you well know, do not want to be "told" what to do.

2. Give them piggy banks.
Having coin banks may seem outdated in this digital age but it is nevertheless still effective in teaching kids how to save. Tell them that saving will allow them to have some money should they need to buy something that they really want. A portion of their "chore" money, for instance a quarter or two, is a good way to start.

3. Get what they need
Controlling what they put on their plates during dinner will help control the urge to get more than they eat. Ask them to clean their plates every time. This will teach them about saving and buying only the things that they need. This is a great training in the future so that they will not grow up with maxed out credit cards, buying things that they do not really need in the first place.

4. Being a role model
Face it. Whatever your child does is only a reflection of what you yourself are doing at home. So if you want the kids to start saving up, make sure that you are also doing your part in saving in this times of economic recession.

Although when it comes to your kids, in bad times or good, they should learn how to save.