Friday, May 30, 2003

CCCS advice: Teach kids about money while on vacation

It's vacation time and many of us will head to the beach, the mountains or a theme park for some fun in the sun. Or maybe it's a week of family togetherness camping, fishing and hiking at a state or national park.

Vacation is a great time for some relatively painless lessons on managing money. Use the natural enthusiasm for vacation adventure to teach the kids about planning, budgeting and paying for a trip.

"CCCS encourages families to plan ahead for their vacations and to involve everyone in the saving and decision-making processes involved with the trip," Consumer Credit Counseling Service President Suzanne Boas said. "Vacation spending is an excellent opportunity to teach basic financial principals to your children."

CCCS suggests parents use the three Es of education, experience and encouragement to help kids learn some valuable lessons and appreciate the time and money spent on vacation:

Education. Getting organized for a trip provides many opportunities to teach your children about the financial resources necessary for a vacation. Make it fun by including them in planning the budget for the trip. How much will you need for travel, tickets, souvenirs? Some categories for your list might include:

Travel airplane, car, train.

Lodging hotel, motel, campground, home of friend or relative.

Meals restaurants, picnics, eating in.

Entertainment theme park tickets, boat rentals, movies, etc.

Explain how to prioritize and allocate the money for each expenditure. For example, if it is important to everyone to save time by flying to the destination, it may be necessary to stay in less expensive lodging such as a relative's home.

Experience. Give your children a daily spending allowance so they can learn from their own experiences. Depending on their ages, give them responsibility for purchases throughout the day. Younger children can make decisions on which souvenirs to purchase. For older children, give them the responsibility of purchasing their own meals, souvenirs and snacks.

Avoid bailing them out if they run out of money before the end of the day. That is part of the experience. Also, let the decisions be theirs. If they purchase a toy that falls apart in an hour, they will learn a valuable lesson.

Keep a spending diary and review with your children the expenses for each day. Day passes, meals, sodas and gum can add up to more than even the adults will realize.

Encouragement. Be sure to acknowledge when your children succeed in their financial management tasks. When younger children realize they can not purchase the souvenir they really want and turn to a second choice, praise the effort and tell them how proud you are of them for staying within their spending limit.

Likewise, let older children know you value their efforts when they reach the end of the day and have not run out of money.

You might even set up a savings incentive plan - if they don't blow the whole allowance, you will reward them with double what's left for a savings account.

By following the three Es while on vacation, adults will give their children a valuable financial learning experience. Continue to utilize the three Es and be fiscal role models and your children will become financially literate adults.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service is a community service agency dedicated to empowering the people of north Georgia to achieve a lifetime of economic freedom. A United Way partner, CCCS puts the consumer first by providing free, confidential budget counseling, community and personal money management education, debt management programs and comprehensive housing counseling.

CCCS Atlanta has been named Outstanding Agency for four consecutive years by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children. A nonprofit organization, CCCS is funded by contributions from creditors, clients, foundations, governments, businesses and individuals. Contact CCCS by phone at 800-330-CCCS (2227) or visit www.cccsinc.org.