When our children were teenagers, we learned that the key to successfully teaching them the biblical perspective of money making and God’s way of money management was to be MVP parents!
The M stands for Modeling, the V stands for Verbally communicating what the Bible says, and the P stands for Practical opportunities for the teens to actually apply what they are learning
Let’s look at money making. The Bible encourages us to work hard. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with all your might.” And laziness is condemned: “He who is slack in his work is brother to him who steals” (Proverbs 18:9). So, how can parents teach their teens to work hard
- Parents need to be models of hard work themselves because what we do has more impact than what we say.
- Assign kids daily household chores to teach faithfulness with routine responsibilities.
- Provide them opportunities to earn extra money at home, and encourage children to work for others to learn what it means to be in an employee—employer relationship.
- Requiring your teen work at least one summer in something requiring hard labor is very beneficial. I’ll never forget working one Florida summer in a lumber yard & cement block, and learning what it really meant to work hard.
When it comes to money management, its super important for teens to understand that God owns all they have, and they are to be faithful managers of whatever the Lord entrusts to them. They need to learn that Saving is good, Debt is bad, Giving is joyful, and they shouldn’t get caught up in impulsively spending money on things they don’t need.
Also teach them how to use a spending plan, a budget. Mint.com is an online system that’s free and would get place for them to start.
Written by Howard Dayton
