All parents know how important the early childhood years are for brain development. It’s in the first few infant years when parents teach children the basics about colours, shapes, musical rhythms, walking, talking, and even what language they’re going to speak. And while trying to teach your child everything you can during these early years is important, it’s probably not the time to be teaching them about HELOCs and second mortgages. Luckily, there is another point in that child’s life when the brain is especially receptive to these and other financial lessons; and that’s during the early teen years.
Family psychotherapist Alyson Schafer, based out of Toronto, says that, “Because of brain plasticity, the early teen years are a crucial time to learn financial lessons. The pathways in the frontal lobes are in the process of being rewired and parents can influence how new circuits form.” Simple ways parents can do this is by taking real life situations and seizing the financial lesson opportunity. When there’s something an early teen wants, whether it’s a new pair of jeans or a cell phone, make them save up for it themselves – at least partially. Giving them financial responsibility in small pieces teaches them the value of money, and gives them the financial lessons they’ll need later on in life.
Author of the book, The Primal Teen, Barbara Strauch, agrees and gives another reason why the early teen years are so important for teaching kids about money. She puts it best when she talks about the “pruning” stage the brain goes through in the adolescent years. It’s during this time that the brain is moving out of childhood and preparing for adulthood. What’s no longer needed or no longer used gets trimmed away; and the parts that are used the most are expanded on and developed. According to Ms. Strauch, “More than 50% of neural connections are eliminated in certain areas.” But during that pruning and building stage, she says, the part of the brain that likes to take risks is developed and expanded on exponentially.
It makes sense when you think about it. Everyone knows that teens think they’re invincible; that bad things “won’t happen to them.” That’s because they’re not afraid to take risks; they thrive off it. And just like the risks of sneaking out of the house or trying out for the school play, financial risks can also be taken – and enjoyed. And, Ms. Strauch also says that it’s important that parents don’t mess too much with allowing their early teen to take those risks.
Take the cell phone example. If your child wants a cell phone and you tell them they’ll need to save up their allowance or babysitting money in order to get it, parents should let the decision lie and not interfere too much with it. Instead of forcing the child to keep that money in their piggy bank, or not allowing them to take it to school for lunch money (because it needs to be saved!) parents instead should let the child do what they want with their money. Let them take the risk of buying their own lunch every day, and let them see at the end of that week that the cell phone savings is significantly depleted. They’ll take the risk, they’ll learn the lesson, and they’ll carry that forward with them in life.
There’s a time for everything in a child’s life. And when it comes to learning about money, that time is in their early teens.
