A Step In The Right Direction – Teaching Kids Business Skills
Jenny Ford posted this on her blog at Raising Entrepreneurs:
Rich Schefren took a step into my world last week, when he went to talk to a group of five-year-olds about business – and according to Rich, he was “Shaking In My Boots”!
It can be daunting, trying to break down complicated business ideas into terms kids can understand. Especially if you have learned business through years of experience, or at university-level academic institutions, or both. The gap between your understanding and the world of a child seems almost infinite.
The truth of the matter is that it can be done. Parents are doing it every week, using the Cash-Smart Kids program.
I left a comment on Rich’s blog post, letting him know about the program – I wonder if he will come and check it out?
At his blog post, “Shaking In My Boots” you can download the gorgeous ads he had these 5-year-olds make to convince their parents to buy them things. Imagine how much more powerful it would be if they also included a business plan as to how they would earn the money to pay their parents back for the purchase?
As Jenny said in a comment she left on Rich’s blog post, she has kids of five and six understanding the difference between active and passive income, and the difference between a fair profit and market manipulation. Heady stuff for the little ones, but actually, standover tactics happen every day in the playground, and kids recognise them instantly in the adult world, too.
We shouldn’t under estimate our kids – in today’s economic environment, they need every bit of understanding we can give them. The world is becoming more complicated, not less, and money knowledge is a survival value these days.
All applause to Rich for having a go, and to Jenny for helping all parents to carry on where Rich left off. Long may this trend last!
