As a parent, we’ve all been there.  You’re walking down the aisle when your child spots a $200 toy they can’t live without.  When you say “No” they crumble into tears screaming to the heavens in anguish and suddenly all eyes are on you as the worst parent in the world.  It’s that awful moment that you ask yourself:  “Why me?” It’s an inevitable situation for just about every single parent.

What if you could avoid this embarrassing situation and make that trip down the store aisle truly enjoyable. Sound too good to be true? Not necessarily. With patience, discipline and the use of innovative new online educational tools available to your kids it’s not impossible to transform your kids into ambitious money savers who work hard to earn the things they want.  Help might just be on the way.

For starters, according to the National Financial Educators Council, over 92 percent of parents agree that developing good habits around money is an important element to having a successful life.[i]  However, many parents struggle with imparting strong financial know-how to their kids.  A recent T. Rowe Price survey notes that 59 percent of respondents said they felt their kids were not equipped to manage their money. [ii]  Is there any reason then to doubt that the stomping of a kids feet in a store aisle isn’t inevitable, particularly if parents are not proactive in addressing these issues early on.

Many parents say making their kids ‘money-smart’ has no price tag and that they dream of days when their kids skip the temper tantrum and strategize about how to reach their goals.  Luckily, personal finance expert, dad, blogger, philanthropist and successful entrepreneur Doug Lebda recently launched Tykoon.com, a free parenting tool and rewardbank that rewards kids for good work, helping to  streamline family workflow and making it fun for parents and kids to work together to become smarter about managing their finances.

Here are some quick tips from Doug on how to best use Tykoon to get started teaching your kids about money while making it fun and engaging:

1. Change “I want!” to “How do I earn?”:  Parenting is tough, and it gets much tougher when kids don’t get what they want.  Instead of saying ‘no’ or ‘yes’ during the next demand-driven fit, try diverting your child to think about what they can do to earn the things they want so they start developing a strong work ethic.  To help jump-start the process, Tykoon enables parents and their children to set and track toward achieving their goals.  Families can set-up allowances and pay for specific tasks or accomplishments.  Tykoon then helps complete the money conversation by showing kids how their earnings can be used to get what they want.

   
   

2. See like a bird but save like a squirrel: Encourage kids to take a bird’s eye view of the money they have coming in like allowance, rewards for tasks accomplished or birthday gifts. With Tykoon’s help, parents and kids can easily organize the portions of income they will put towards saving, giving and spending. This helps your kids develop healthy patterns and plans around money that they can carry with them as they get older.
   

   
   

3. Be consistent about expectations and rewards: Make sure your kids know what they’re expected to do before they get their allowance. Be consistent in rewarding a job well done as well as withholding rewards if they don’t fulfill their responsibilities.  Using Tykoon encourages parents to sit down with their kids and outline exact responsibilities around the house.  The system is designed to let kids easily track chores they have been digitally assigned by mom or dad and identify the compensation associated with each accomplishment.  As kids adapt to the program they themselves can even suggest ideas on how to pitch in around the house.  The easy-to-use platform supports the development of a strong work ethic by more concretely structuring household rewards. 
   

   
   

4. It takes a village, so get it involved: Inform extended family and friends about your mission and get them involved! Work together to teach and encourage your kids to save and get rewarded for achieving milestones. Consider having family match their savings for birthdays or treat kids to non-cash rewards like a special family outing for good financial planning.  Luckily, the extended family feature on the Tykoon platform makes understanding and discussing money management easy for the whole family.
   

   
   

5. Make learning fun: Make it a fun family project to teach your kids how to make money by starting a lemonade stand. Turn saving money into a game by celebrating and rewarding kids for meeting savings goals. Lastly, don’t forget the Internet! 85 percent of kids say that an online game would be helpful for them to learn more about the basics of money. [iii] With today’s digitally savvy kids, it’s important to meet kids where they are already. Apps like Tykoon.com help parents use the powers of virtual gaming for good and streamline the workflow of instilling healthy financial habits early.

Tykoon (www.tykoon.com) is an online rewardbank for kids and parenting tool (Web & iOS) that makes it easy to apply all the tips above. It turns chores and parent-assigned tasks into an engaging virtual experience that helps kids easily learn about money.

The post Every parent’s dream come true: Turning “I Want!” into “How do I Earn?” appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Giving kids an allowance is a time honored tradition as old as, well, having them make their beds or set the dinner table.  But it turns out that for many of today’s families, the ritual of allowance giving can create a lot of stress and apprehension.  A recent field study by Kidworth.com found very few parents are actually giving their children a steady allowance.  It was as if “allowance” had become the new dirty word in parenting.  That’s right, the “A” word.

The most common fears they shared were that it would lead to power struggles between the kids and parents or would just amp up the materialism that kids today can already posses.  One mom said her kids don’t need allowance, she buys them everything and that way she can control what they get – but that doesn’t teach her children financial literacy.  How are kids going to learn to be responsible at 18 with their own credit card, if they’re not trusted and taught how to manage a few dollars a week at age 10?

Most financial and parenting experts agree, an allowance is a healthy way to give your children financial skills that they can carry on through their adult lives.  It’s only a dirty word if you make it one.  Here are five tips on how to give your children an allowance:

(1) Don’t tie an allowance to doing chores!  That’s right, your parenting fears are well founded.  This instantly turns allowance into a power struggle–something parents have enough of already.  An allowance should be an independent stream of income, used as its own learning experience, not a facilitator for others.

(2) Start at the right age, with the right amount of money.  Most experts suggest one dollar for every year of a child’s age.  So a five year old would get five dollars a week.  Five and six year olds can start to grasp the concept of saving and spending money.  Seven to 12 year olds are really in the sweet spot for starting healthy financial habits, they want to buy things and are becoming increasingly good at math.

(3) Have some short term goals–toys, candy, games, etc.  But suggest some long term spending goals that you know will come up– electronic gear, a bike, expensive clothing.

(4) Use an allowance as a real teaching opportunity.  Let your child pick a charity and donate to it every few months.  Start a college or private school savings account that they can contribute to.  Even if it’s only a small portion of the real money you’ll need, let them feel what it’s like to save for these important life goals.  Money guru Warren Buffett says he bought his first stock at age 11, so you can never think too big.

(5) Develop a system and stick with it.  Some people use a three jar method for saving, spending and donations.  Others have bank accounts.  The goal center at Kidworth.com offers tools to help families manage their financial habits online.

The most important thing to do is be active about your children and their money.  When approached correctly, “allowance” doesn’t have to be a dirty word, it can be a positive partnership between parents and their kids that will last a lifetime.

The post 5 TIPS ON HOW TO GIVE YOUR KIDS AN ALLOWANCE appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.