National Teach Your Children to Save Day

Money can be complicated to deal with for those people won’t don’t really know how to handle it. Teaching children how to value the money they have can be an essential life skill that is taught at a very early age! By learning about money, people will be better able to handle their finances from childhood and into adulthood.

If children learn the important skill of valuing, using and saving money, they will be ready to face the world!

National Teach Your Children to Save Day helps aid this educational prospect by allowing kids to learn new ways of handling and understanding money. And it serves as a great reminder to parents that it’s never too early to get involved with helping children learn about saving.

History of National Teach Your Children to Save Day

National Teach Your Children to Save Day provides bankers an opportunity to show the value of teaching children why saving money is essential. Sponsored by the American Banker Association Education Foundation, this day is meant to be a community effort to help families and schools. The idea is for bankers to help advocate for financial literacy.

Teach Children to Save Day encourages parents to teach their children about money. This includes the value of what money can do for people, and also how (and, especially why!) to start a savings account. Throughout the day, bankers, financial planners, and other banking professionals travel to their local schools and teach students, from kindergarten through high school, about money.

The day is not only about saving, but it also includes important information about spending, donating, and investing money. By bringing this vital habit to children while they are young, it is more likely that they will be able to handle their money better in the future.

Bankers on this day are provided with resources that contain promotion material so they can increase awareness. The organization also promotes student activities, communication tools, and presentation lessons to cover topics that involve savings and money. Topics might include how to save money, where is the best place to keep money, and how to make saved money work hard and grow.

Parents can find access to these resources through various local banks on this day. They can use them to give their children activities and learning materials to help them bond with their children.

Saving money can be the start to better education about money, especially once those children grow up and need to handle their finances. Giving kids the information they need now can help them with difficult situations later, such as unexpected emergencies, loan payments, and other circumstances.

All in all, National Teach Your Children to Save Day is a fun, interesting way to learn and teach about a vitally important part of life!

How to Celebrate National Teach Your Children to Save Day

Talking about savings, banking and finances doesn’t have to be boring! This can be a great day to have fun and enjoy the process of learning together. And although the celebration is on one day, many people have activities related to savings and financial education all throughout the entire month.

Try these ideas for celebrating National Teach Your Children to Save Day:

Play a Game About Money

For those families or teachers who want an activity that teaches kids about money, then consider playing the popular game Monopoly, by Hasbro. Although not necessarily about saving (sometimes this game can even cause a person to go bankrupt!) Monopoly teaches about the value of money while also making it fun and entertaining. Another board game that can run along those lines is The Game of Life, by Milton Bradley.

For those who prefer to be in the online world, it’s possible to download game apps on a phone and encourage children to play those games. It’s all about making saving money fun and educational.

Set Savings Goals

It might also be effective to try to motivate children by helping them to list out goals that they want to complete throughout their lives (or if they are very young, throughout the next year!) Fill up a savings jar with coins, tell them stories about personal experiences with money and help them imagine what they would do if they saved a certain amount.

Open a Youth Savings Account

Head over to the bank and help your child open a parent-supervised bank account and teach them how to operate it. Lead by example and show children the value of money. By doing so, they will be able to have a head start into the future.

Get an Event Started

For those who live in communities that don’t have activities for this day, now might be just the right time to get something started! Get connected with a local bank manager who is willing to sponsor the events and do something good to educate the children of the community. Also, for an increased impact, see about including local community groups such as scout troops for boys and girls, the United Way, Boys & Girls club and other youth groups.

Banks in the US can register with the ABA to participate in the event and be provided with free resources such as promotional materials, communication tools, student activities and presentation lessons.

Topics included in these resources are geared toward different age groups and might include:

• Financial Decision Making
• Saving and Spending
• Money Recognition
• Interest-bearing Accounts
• Careers in Banking