Every parent wishes the best for their daughter. You may have taught your daughter to count. But now, it is the time to teach her what counts, which is ever so important. The societal image of women is that of being financially dependent on someone else – their parents, guardians or spouse. This daughter’s day, take an initiative to start the journey of financially educating your daughter so that she stands on her own even in the most difficult financial situations.
Lead the Way
Children learn from observing their parents. Parents often think that kids must not be bothered with the family’s financial situation. While this may be out of the best interest of the children, it actually is keeping them in the dark on how things work. Instead, show them how things are done. Give them opportunity to share their suggestions. Also suggest them ideas about spending their pocket money and making a plan on how much they could save. Small lessons including their own money go a long way.
Develop the Habit
As they grow older help your daughters develop the habit of saving and planning. It is important that they realize the importance of savings and planning since an early age, so that they don’t feel helpless when they actually face tough financial situations. Challenge them with giving them only a fixed amount of allowance and ask them how they plan to fulfil all their needs with it. Once they face the paucity of funds, they will realize that they should have planned better. It is never too late, or too early for money lessons, teaching your daughter about financial literacy and developing good habits. The earlier you start, the more time she will get to observe, make mistakes and learn from them.
Get Involved
There are often many real-life situations when you can teach your daughter about money, considering that money is an integral part of our daily life. Buying groceries, books, toys or even while paying school fees, you can teach your daughter on how things work. These days, some banks such as ICICI offer special debit cards for children linked with their account with the primary account holder being a guardian of the child. Such bank accounts come with special debit cards that can be used to teach children about transactions and ATM operations so that they are prepared to cope with handling money from an early age. In addition, you can always set time aside to teach them a thing or two about how the markets work or what insurance is.
To Sum Up:
This daughter’s day, help your daughter understand the importance of money and how to manage it, so that they don’t have to look towards anybody else to manage their money. Just a few lessons can help you start your daughter’s journey towards financial independence.
