How parents can teach children about money at home during the summer holidays: six tips from MaPS

• Young people are currently entering adulthood without the knowledge and skills to effectively manage their money. 
• Research shows three quarters of children don’t receive a meaningful financial education at home. 
• The rapid digitisation of money has profound implications for children and young people and the way that they understand and learn about money. 
• Children who do receive a meaningful financial education are more likely to be active savers and are more confident talking about and managing their money. 
• Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is encouraging parents to teach children about money during the summer holidays, using MoneyHelper’s Talk Learn Do content.  

Teaching money at home is vital, but current MaPS research shows that only one in four (24%) children have received a meaningful financial education at home. 

Since 2016, there has been significant growth in children’s use of debit cards and reviewing their own online bank accounts. In addition to this, some parents have less knowledge about the digital platforms that their children are using. 

While there are still benefits to the use of digital money, it also poses risks, exposing children and young people to financial harms at an earlier age. 

Through MaPS’ digital tool, Talk Learn DoOpens in a new window,  parents and guardians have access to free and simple guidance, including fun activities for the whole family to get involved in.  

The content has been developed specifically to help children start to build good money habits that will support them throughout their lives.  

To support parents and guardians looking to fill six weeks of the summer holidays, MaPS has developed six tips and tricks that can further support them with teaching, and inspiring children to learn about money:

It’s never too early to start teaching your children about money. 

MaPS research shows that children begin developing skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours around managing money between the ages of three and seven. These skills then continue to develop throughout childhood and teenage years. 

Talk Learn Do has hints and fun suggestions for talking to your children about moneyOpens in a new window, depending on their age. 

You are the most important influence on your children’s attitudes towards money, and better financial understanding around finances will come from enhanced conversations.  

The Talk Learn Do content features an article on how to talk to your children about moneyOpens in a new window, to help structure these conversations. 

The way children learn about money has evolved in the digital age, with digital platforms playing an increasingly influential role.  

And with cash in declining use, children are less exposed to physical notes and coins being exchanged. 

Your children’s understanding of the value of money is therefore being shaped by these new interactions, necessitating a particular conversation around digital money. 

Learn how to have a digital money conversationOpens in a new window. 

Most children (91%) already have some responsibility about how they spend their money, but to increase this, one way to start is to involve them in the weekly food shop. 

Your children can help make the shopping list, seeing what’s already in cupboards and what is running low.

Read more about how your children can help make the shopping list on MoneyHelperOpens in a new window. 

Give them a certain small amount of money to spend in the supermarket and explain that the food they choose needs to be suitable for your family size for a week. 

Only around a third of parents or carers (35%) say they set rules about how their child’s money is spent. If you are teaching children about money for the first time, it’s important that rules are set and stuck to. 

One way to do this is to set a maximum budget within their pocket money that your children can spend on luxuries each week. 

Evidence shows that even very small amounts of regularly received pocket money increases children’s ability to budget. Sticking to rules and giving pocket money can also reduce pestering in the long run.  

Visit the how to handle pestering guide on MoneyHelperOpens in a new window for more hints and tips.  

Your children will already be picking up on small cues around what you do and say around money. 

So don’t panic if you haven’t started teaching them about money just yet – that's what Talk Learn Do is here to help you with. 

All of the steps mentioned, from having conversations to giving them responsibility will have a huge positive impact, especially when combined. 

– ENDS –

• Access the Adult Financial Wellbeing Survey 2021 by the Money and Pensions Service.
• Access the UK Children and Young People’s Financial Wellbeing Survey: Financial Foundations by the Money and Pensions Service.
• Read the Habit Formation and Learning in Young ChildrenOpens in a new window Executive Summary by the Money Advice Service.
• Read Developing children and young people’s financial capability: Evidence review by the Money and Pensions Service.
• The 2022 wave was conducted by Critical Research amongst 4,740 children and young people using a mixed methodology approach. The data collection period occurred between 18 August 2022 and 6 November 2022.  Download the full Technical Report (PDF, 1MB).
• The measure of a “meaningful financial education” is based on the percentage of children and young people who say they ‘recall receiving financial education at school that they considered useful’ and/or ‘received regular money from parents or from work and their parents' set rules about money and give them responsibility for some spending decisions.’ Those who say yes to either or both are considered to have received a meaningful financial education.