Teaching Children About Biblical Stewardship
I vividly remember the odd feeling I had when leaving the hospital with my first child. My husband and I were now responsible for this new person. Do we know what we’re doing? Is there no instruction manual? Parenthood can seem like a daunting task that you never truly feel prepared for. There are so many things we need and want to teach our children in the short 18-or-so years we have them under our roof.
Beyond providing practical instruction—like riding a bike, performing weekly chores, and managing schoolwork—Christian parents are charged with teaching their children what it means to follow Jesus with their whole hearts. This is our most important job. Conversations with our children about money, work, saving, generosity, and investing can take many forms. As adults, we acknowledge that true biblical stewardship and generosity flow from a transformed heart, not through savvy investing or saving practices. Nurturing our children’s faith through scriptural truths and practical habits regarding money can reap long-term spiritual benefits for them.
There are many tools parents can use to “train up a child in the way he should go.” One effective tool to teach children about stewardship and generosity is a child’s allowance. Wealth advisor David Lawless and Sr. financial planner Blake Mankin recently coauthored a blog on the BlueTrust website with some key insights into this approach.
An Allowance System that Teaches Stewardship
In our families, we found a categorized allowance system to be an effective teaching tool. Beginning at age five, our children received $3 weekly. If you begin this system with your children at a later age, you may adjust the amount higher.
Regardless of the amount, ask your child to divide the allowance equally into three categories:
Giving
To develop godly habits, the first dollar (or 1/3) received goes into giving.
While we know God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), and we should give freely, not forcibly (Deuteronomy 15:10), we start with giving regardless of young children’s excitement about it.
Money from the giving category is taken to church each week for the offering box.
Savings
The second dollar received goes into savings.
Depending on their age and how much money you want to commit to this exercise, we recommend matching (i.e., 100%, 50%, etc.) to demonstrate how compound interest works.
To use saved funds, children need to:
Decide what they want to buy.
Save up for that item.
Ensure that they truly want to buy it once they have saved the total amount. (You can encourage them to wait an additional week to think about it.)
Buy the item they saved for and celebrate
Spending
The last dollar received can go into spending.
They can use this money to buy whatever they want, such as candy or other small purchases.
Weekly Meetings
We recommend treating the child to a “Money Lunch” at their favorite restaurant to introduce them to the allowance system. After this, plan to set aside 10 minutes per week for each child’s “payday,” which you may open or close with prayer time.
The weekly meeting is an opportunity to review the chores they are responsible for and to celebrate with them about completing those tasks that week. To earn their weekly allowance, our children had to complete three “allowance chores” in the home, which are jobs that go above and beyond expected household chores. As the parent, you get to decide what jobs are appropriate.
When they receive their allowance money, it’s a good time to review what they are saving for and to reinforce two things:
1. A ‘call and response’ to the purpose of the allowance system:
Who owns everything? God.
How do we get money? Work.
What do we do with it first? Give.
Then what? Save.
Then what? Spend.
What does the bank pay us for our patience? Compound interest.
2. A biblical principle about the funds allocated to each bucket:
Giving – Proverbs 3:9-10: “Honor the LORD with your wealth, and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”
Savings – Proverbs 21:20: “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
Spending – 1 Timothy 6:17: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
When first implementing this allowance system with our children, we read a weekly story about stewardship during the “payday” time.
Helpful Tips
Use a visual for children to measure their progress. You might create a fundraising thermometer with dollar increments that they color in as they save up more or a printed picture of the item with increments they check off as they get closer.
Don’t take away allowances because of behavioral issues. Children need to learn how to handle money wisely, regardless of how they conducted themselves that week. If they complete the work, they get the money.
Work on a “container project” together. Spend some time with your child crafting clearly labeled, decorative containers (mason jars, wooden banks, clay pots, etc.) for the give, save, and spend categories.
Keep meetings as enjoyable as possible. Celebrate wins and hard work, and your children will respond well and be excited about the meetings. “Rejoice with those who rejoice.”
Conclusion
As with every lesson we teach our children, understand that it won’t go perfectly. Your five-year-old (or 16-year-old) may not walk away completely transformed after one discussion. Plenty of your meetings will fall apart and turn into conversations about what they want to buy instead of the profound Bible study you hoped for. But in the same way, you are using an allowance to teach your children that hard, consistent work pays off, please know that your hard, consistent work isn’t in vain either.
Faith & Finance Perspective:
A thousand small conversations about stewardship, generosity, and wisdom about money will slowly move children towards understanding more of God’s heart and a deep, real relationship with the One who owns it all. As parents, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routines and busyness of life, but we must always remember our most important job¾pointing our children towards Jesus.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6