Sue Scheff: Teens and Money - Teach Your Teens to Budget Now

During these difficult times, many families are struggling to pay their monthly expenses. Some parents have lost their jobs, some families have lost their homes and there are those that are on the edge of both. Living from paycheck to paycheck and raising a family has become more challenging.

What can our teens learn from this? How can they be prepared financially for the future? As savvy as our teens are today with the information highway, called the Internet, many are still clueless about finances, budgeting, and saving money.

TheMint.org offers excellent parenting tips and advice.

As parents, we understand the importance of literacy. We sit for hours reading with our children. However, children must be "literate" about money matters, too.

Learning how to think about money and manage it wisely is an equally important life skill. We must patiently help our kids "sound out" the many ways to control money. Our kids will learn by doing. Some lessons will be thrilling. Others will be frustrating, even painful.

In the end, we hope that our children will grow into financially responsible adults. The rewards are life-altering: living within their means, free from the anxieties of debt, and secure in their future.

Tips from TheMint.org:

• Every day, we need to create conversations about money - not lectures, but casual commentaries on situations that arise naturally in our days. The aim? To teach children a) how to think about money and b) make responsible decisions in using it.
• We must review our own financial habits so that we are modeling responsible financial behavior. Children quietly observe adults, and parents are "modeling" financial behavior all the time - whether or not we mean to.

For more information for parents, teachers and kids, visit http://www.themint.org/ .

Be an educated parent, you will have smarter teens!

Read more articles about teens and money here.