How does money make us feel?
Pause for a moment and consider how you feel when you receive some money.
Maybe it came to you as a gift, or maybe you earned it. Perhaps you feel differently about money if it’s a gift as opposed to payment for work you have done. How do you feel when you spend that money? Again, this may well change depending on what you spend it on. We tend to feel quite differently about the things we buy that we need compared with the things we buy as a treat.
How do you feel when you give money away? This may well depend on why you are giving it away in the first place. Is it possible for us to give money away begrudgingly? Or does it have to make us feel like we have done something wholesome?
What about saving money, How does that make us feel? Again, this can vary depending on what we are saving for? The way you feel about saving money might stem from your upbringing. Did you have a parent/grandparent who encouraged you to put coins in a jar and later a bank?
Money can bring about many emotions and feelings, sometimes this is hard for children to understand, for example I’m pretty sure we all have quite strong feelings about losing money.
All of these scenarios show how powerful money is as a part of our lives and the role it plays in our day to day happiness. Considering these things with children and engaging them in some discussions around how money makes us feel can be a very enriching and worthwhile experience, and helps provide the foundations for them being able to deal with those feelings as an adult. Dealing with emotions connected with money can prepare children for the choices they have to make as they grow older and have more dealings with finances.