Site Meter Parenting Teens » Blog Archive » Back-To-School Financial Lessons

Back-To-School Financial Lessons

by

money_tree5.jpg

Back-to-school can be the best time of the year to teach your teen that money doesn’t grow on trees! A study by Capital One Financial Corporation found that 52% of parents have not talked to their teen about the differences between “needs” and “wants.” Thirty-six percent of parents haven’t talked to their teens at all about back-to-school finances.

Before hitting the stores, help your teen come up with a budget, and a list of things they really need. After buying all the needed items, you can talk with them about spending any leftover money in the budget for less-essential things. Be sure to talk with your teens about the differences between something they need and something they want. Stress that just because other kids have certain items (iPods or fancy cell phones), doesn’t mean that they’re a necessity.

Back-to-school can sometimes be a painful time for parents. You want your children to have what others have, but sometimes there’s just not enough money. Realize that you are doing the best you can do, and be sure to remind your teens that school is really about the education you’re getting, and is not meant to be a fashion show, or a place to show off electronic gadgets.

With back-to-school, shopping, you can teach your teen excellent lessons about the value of money, about budgeting, and about the difference between necessities and luxuries. They’re lessons that they’ll put to good use for the rest of their lives!

, , , , , , , ,


Leave a Reply


About Parenting Teens

Parenting Teens is a fun and informational site dealing with the joys and challenges of parenting teenagers. As well as serious news dealing with topics such as health and education, we also write about the fun stuff. Check with us often for discussion, news and advice about parenting today's teens.

Parenting Teens Author(s)

Blogging Flair

Parenting Teens Blog - now Featured on
Alltop, confirmation that I kick ass


Parenting & Family Channel Posts

  • Monsanto Roundup
    With nine million litres of Roundup sold each year all over the world, the American agrochemical group Monsanto holds a world record. For the first time, a study led by Gilles-Eric Séralini [...]
  • What a proud parent does?
    So, there’s the looming talk of “candy at school” but thus far my son doesn’t seem to be any the wiser about how the whole “no more candy” came to be.  I’m trying to be objective, [...]
  • To prove I’m not the perfect parent
    My children are having a hard time with the fact that their mommy has been gone quite a bit lately.  And, I’m home now with no chance of traveling for quite some time and hopefully, if I do [...]
  • Cooking with Kids
    Bo is a great helper. I love to make cookies with Peanut. It's our fun mother/daughter activity. For a while, every time she took a nap, she'd ask if we could make chocolate chips when she [...]
  • Sleep: A Chance to Dream and For Mom to Get a Break
    I love sleep. It is in my top five of favorite things to do. Having a baby kind of ruins this though! The Little Guy is slowly getting better at sleeping. Many mornings, he's out cold at [...]
  • So, I really hate to complain but candy? Really?
    Here’s the deal.  You all know that my son is a talker and that thus far his teacher has been more than a little bit receptive to the fact that he NEVER.SHUTS.UP.  She seems to be [...]
  • Ok, so let’s talking Parenting…mmmkay?
    Ok, so yea, I get it, I’m a parent but not everyone wants to hear me tell parenting stories.  So, I figure, I’ll give you one little parenting story and then guide you in the direction of [...]
  • Do You Pull Up?
    The other day, I was working. I really was. I was doing some research, and I happened upon an article about Tori Spelling. She talked about her son, Liam's, potty training process. Here's a [...]
  • Electroshocking Toddlers?
    American psychiatry still regards electroconvulsive therapy as a respected treatment, even for kids. Although ECT for young children is nowhere near as common as for adults, most U.S. states [...]
  • Babies having babies.
    Mama always said that she was a 'baby that had a baby' when she got pregnant with me a mere WEEK after her wedding to Papa. She and I still look like sisters (I'm the YOUNGER one, dammit!), and we [...]

Hot Off The Press

  • Faces of Haiti: Hormise
    Her name is Hormise Datos. For 9 years she was living illegally in the United States. She is a Haitian and this is her story. She grew up in the vicinity of Saint Marc. Her parents worked in the [...]