Keep Your Child from Being Materialistic

Gimme, gimme, gimme. If that refrain sounds familiar, then you may have a materialistic kid. With all the online and television ads --- not to mention peer pressure -- that bombard kids every day with the coolest, trendiest toys, it's no wonder kids want more and more stuff. If your child expresses a need to fill up that piggy bank, then there are several ways to handle it. A passion for money isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in a younger child, the fascination can be fostered by focusing on the math aspects of money. Help your child learn division, multiplication, subtraction and addition by teaching her about the different denominations of money. From there, money management is the next skill she can master. If you give an allowance, then divide it into percentages to save, spend and donate. That way, the amount of disposable income your child has for whatever you don't cover as parents can't be disputed.