Also this month:
* Extension Specialist
Advises on School to Summer Transition
* A&T Students Use
Animal Science En Route to Medical Careers
* A&T Landscape
Architecture Students Set Sights on Area Projects
* Columbus County Farmers Abuzz
with Bees
* Reddy Earns Research Award
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Mitch Arnold, news editor
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Greensboro, NC: The money that youngsters make during
the summer provides an opportunity for parents to teach their children
the financial facts of life, says a Cooperative Extension specialist.
"Setting a good example about money is great, but that's not enough
if you want your child to handle money responsibly now and into adulthood,"
says Dr. Claudette Smith, a family resource management specialist with
the North Carolina A&T State University Cooperative Extension Program.
Smith recommends that parents work through financial planning with their
children, rather than simply lecturing to them about the importance of
money management, and that summer jobs provide an ideal opportunity to
do so.
"Most children learn more from experience than from lectures,"
said Smith. "They learn to make better choices when they are able
to see the natural consequences of their decisions, and often, they begin
to see that there are limits to what they can buy with the money they make.
This realization may help them adjust their expectations of their parents'
money."
Specific money management teaching suggestions offered by Smith include:
- discuss basic responsibilities, such as savings and taxes, associated
with making and handling money.
- encourage children to set goals for their money and establish plans
to reach those goals.
- have "cash chats" to discuss their progress toward their
goals, but refrain from being judgmental, and don't be tempted to take
over the decision-making.
- if a computer equipped with money management software is available,
encourage your child to use it. This may stimulate them to plan and analyze
how they are using their income.
- discuss opening a savings account. It's never too early to start youngsters
thinking about saving for future needs, such as education.
- most importantly, be careful to practice what you preach.
"Allowing children to enter adulthood with no money skills is a
big gamble, and the stakes are high," says Smith. "Children without
money management skills often become adults with stifling credit problems
or who suffer other types of financial stress, such as bankruptcy."
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For more information, please contact Dr. Claudette Smith, NC A&T Cooperative
Extension Program, (336) 334-7956.
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