With our newly launched Money as You Grow book club, you can use children’s books to discuss money concepts through reading, play, and one-on-one talks.
Research shows that parents and caregivers have the most influence on their children’s financial capability. If you’re like most parents, you probably recognize this—and you’re interested in setting your kids on a good path toward financial well-being. But many parents also say they don’t always have time, tools, or confidence to start talking about money.
Fortunately, many of the building blocks for good financial decision making – like patience, planning, and problem-solving – don’t require a lot of financial know-how.
Here’s how it works
To get started, visit our book club page and browse through the books for children ages 4 to 10. You’ll see basic information about each book and what’s inside. Choose a book and download a copy of the parent reading guide, which you can print out or read on-screen. You’ll need to visit your local library or bookseller for a copy of the book itself. The book, parent reading guide, and a comfortable place to sit with your child are all you need to get started.
When you’re done reading and talking at home, you can join a group discussion with other parents and caregivers. Your local library might already have a group, or you can start one with the help of our implementation guide.
Here’s why it works
Reading books with children is a creative way to learn about the many sides of money management. In the book “Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday” the title character Alexander makes mistakes with his money that you can discuss with your children. After reading “Just Shopping with Mom” talking about how the mom can help her children accept “no” as the answer when they have the “I wants” can help children understand and better cope with a “no” in real life.
Sometimes it’s easier to be objective when you talk about characters in a book and their money decisions. After you talk about what the characters could do, adopting some of the same financial concepts into your lives might get easier too.
Start reading and sharing
Check out the book club and select from our nine books. We’ll be announcing guides for more books in the future, so be sure to check back! We encourage you to share your book club experiences with other parents on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest with the #MoneyAsYouGrow hashtag.