There's stuff you can do at different ages to educate kids about money, according to the WSJ, and presumably, they know about money and all. I like these tips for a number of different ages, but let's look at the ones for five-to twelve-year-olds, because, well, my kid is six and I would prefer she not end up broke and alone later in life.
They suggest: giving the rugrats an allowance and then sticking to it (i.e. if they don't have the cash for something, don't make up the difference); ask kids to save a portion of money gifts; don't let them "pay you back later" (that's called credit); and explain how you make money decisions (luckily, as a professional writer, I don't even have money to make decisions about). We just started an allowance for my child, and we've already screwed up on all of these. Debtor's prison for her! Maybe from now on I'll just explain that I could loan her the money, but she'll have to pay it back with interest, and if she can't, she'll get incessant threatening phone calls and then a couple of intimidating people in sunglasses will show up and take her Polly Pocket pink jeep away. Real world, people, real world.
