As noted above, explore games and apps to teach children about money. Check out the link above with “10 Interactive financial websites that teach kids money management skills.” Offer your thoughts about one or more of the games or apps as a way for children to learn about money. If you were a parent would you select one or more of these for your child? Or does it depend on the age. What is your assessment of the game or app?
I started working part time jobs during the summer when I was 15 years old and when I got older I began to work part time during the school year. In my 4 years of high school I probably have worked at 7 different jobs, not always at the same time but sometimes at the same time. I enjoyed working at a young age because having my own money was nice and I could spend it on whatever I wanted. However, when I look at my savings account today you would not think I had worked a job since I was 15 years old because I have no money to show for it. If there was one thing I could go back and change it would be how I spent and managed my money.
What I have learned from my own personal experience is that children and adolescents need to be taught about financial literacy and money management skills. It seems that many parents are not teaching their children about this and children are not being taught this in schools. In one study, it was reported that only 16.4% of U.S high school students are required to take a personal finance course. This a significantly low number of students receiving information on financial literacy. But sometimes talking about these topics can be difficult because talk about money is often thought of as taboo. In Smith (2019), Kelly Anne Smith discusses the necessity for parents and teachers to be teaching children and adolescents about money management skills and financial literacy. She mentions how the approach to teaching this subject is easier than ever before with the creation of technology. Technology has made it easier than ever before to teach children financial concepts at young ages.
When looking at the list created by Writtenhouse (2016) I found that some of the websites that help teach children about money management skills were better than others. One of the first websites I checked out was Financial Football. There were many things I found interesting about this website. The first thing I was surprised about are the companies that created this game are the National Football League (NFL) and Visa. I think it is a good thing that these two big companies teamed up together to create this game. The game had versions for 3 different age ranges and different game lengths. I decided to play the 5 minute version of the game for 18 year olds and older. The game is an interactive football game between two NFL teams and the player has two answer questions related to financial literacy to make a play in the game. My overall assessment of this game is that I think it is a good resource for teaching children about financial literacy. I think this website would be more attractive to boys than girls because of the NFL component of the website but anyone can learn something from playing this game. I could see teachers having this as an activity that children can play in the classroom individual or as a class. Another website I checked out was The Mint, a website that had lessons on financial literacy for kids, teenagers, parents, teachers, and emerging adults. What I liked about this website is that it has games for teenagers and kids to play in order to learn and it has pages of information on saving, spending, and earning money. This would be a great website for parents to read to learn about how to talk to their children about financial literacy and for teachers to teach their students. This is a good website because it had resources for everyone and age-related information because saving money can be different for teenagers than it is for college graduates.
From looking at websites that teach children and adolescents about financial literacy and money management skills I understand how technology can have an effective role in doing this and be useful. In lecture we discussed how money and money management can be a huge stressor on families but by using these websites and applications is can be less stressful. Children can begin to learn how to be smart with their money at a young age which will pay off in the long run.
References
Smith, K. A. (2019, April 7). Why parents should start teaching their kids about money at an early age. Retrieved April 13, 2019, from https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/parents-teach-kids-about-money-early-age/
Writtenhouse, S. (2016, January 2). 10 Interactive Financial Websites That Teach Kids Money Management Skills. Retrieved April 13, 2019, from https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-interactive-financial-websites-teach-kids-money-management-skills/
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