Teaching Your Children the Value of Money

5 Great Books to Get Started

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

After losing all their possessions in a fire, a girl, her waitress mother, and her grandmother carefully save their money to buy a comfortable new chair for their apartment. This book teaches children the value of working together and saving for a goal.

A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban

This classic story revisits an old friend many of us remember from childhood: Frances the Badger. After saving up her money to buy a blue china tea set, Frances is tricked by her friend into buying her old, used tea set. This story teaches children to really think before they buy a “bargain,” and also engages the age-old saying of “treat others as you would like to be treated.”

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

This short story is a classic – and with good reason. It tells the story of a young husband and wife who each part with their prized possessions in order to buy the perfect gift for the other. It teaches the lesson that sometimes it’s better to give than to receive, and that love can sometimes be the greatest gift of all.
 

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Giving Tree will tell your child how much more meaningful it is to give than receive – even when it seems we have nothing left.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

This book tells the tale of Joseph, a frugal man with an overcoat that he loves very much. Eventually, Joseph’s overcoat begins to wear, but instead of throwing it away, he reuses the material to make a new jacket, a vest, and other items until his favorite overcoat eventually becomes a cloth button. This book will teach your children how to appreciate and reuse items, when perhaps resources are thin.