From Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families: Creating a Nurturing Family in a Turbulent World 177-178.
Family time is a great time to teach competence in practical matters. One woman related this experience:
One of the family times our children remember the most was when we played a game to teach them some principles of financial management. We set up several signs in different places in the room that said such things as “Bank,” “Store,” “Credit Card Company,” and “Charity.” Then we gave each of the children some object to represent work they could do to earn money. Our eight-year-old had some hand towels she could fold. Our ten-year-old had a broom to sweep the floor. Everyone had work to do so that they could earn. When the game began, everyone started to work. After a few minutes we rang a bell, and everyone got “paid.” We gave them each ten dimes for their labor. Then they had to decide what to do with their money. They could put it in the bank. They could donate some to charity. They could buy something at the “store”where we had a lot of bright-colored balloons with the names of different toys and the price written on them. In fact, if they really wanted something badly from the store and didn’t have enough money to buy it, they could go to the credit card company and borrow enough to get it. We went through the sequence several times: work, earn, spend; work, earn, spend. And then we blew a whistle. “Interest time!” we said. Those who had put money in the bank got money added. Those who had “borrowed” from the credit card company had to pay interest. After several rounds they quickly became convinced that it was much smarter to earn interest than to pay it.
As the game progressed, the children also saw that those who chose to donate to charity were helping to provide food, clothes, and other basic necessities for people throughout the world. And as we popped some of the balloons when the “interest” whistle blew, they also realized that many of the material things we work so hard for and even go into debt for don’t last. When we’ve asked our children to tell us about family times they remember, this one was at the top of the list. And it’s made a tremendous difference when as grown-ups they’ve received mail containing the empty promise of 'buy now, pay later.' Of our four married children, not one of them carries a credit card balance requiring the payment of interest. And the only money they’ve borrowed has been for homes, transportation, and education.
Just think of the difference it’s made to these children to learn some of the basic principles of finance in their home—especially when problems in financial management is one of the major factors linked to divorce.
