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Of course, money represents a lot more than penny candy, and nowhere is that more evident than in New York City, where on his walk to school your child may see a homeless person sleeping on a stoop, while a classmate is dropped off in a chauffeured Escalade. For the most part, kids begin to pick up on the inequities around the time they start elementary school, where they can compare things like who has more Webkinz.
Jennifer Geddes says her daughters, ages nine and six, became money-aware around kindergarten. “When they ask why they can’t have or do something their friends have or do, I just explain that every family works differently and that’s not the way we do it,” says the Hamilton Heights mom. “I tell them there are lots of people who have more money than we do, but there are also those who have a lot less.”
Geddes makes use of the opportunities that come up day to day to talk to her kids about the value of money, like when they ask to take a taxi home or buy something pricey at the store. “I’ll explain why I choose not to spend money on that particular thing right now, and they usually see the logic of it.” Janet Bodnar, author of Raising Money Smart Kids, agrees: “Giving your children a sense of limits is key, so they see for themselves how far money will or won’t go.”
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