Studies show that kid’s IQ depends on many things that are not directly related to intellectual things. For example, IQ depends on exercising and sleeping habits, self-discipline, healthy eating, etc. The reason for this is that one area of our life usually affects other areas of our life.

That said, it is still important to stimulate your kid intellectually. It is your responsibility as a parent to form the right intellectual habits for your kid. That would make it easier for him to achieve his financial freedom in the future.

Top 3 things you could do with your kid right now

1. Don’t read to your kids, read with them

Can you become financially free without reading? Yes, however, “no reading path” is much longer and riskier than the “reading path”. As Bill Gates said, “I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot”. Reading opens the world for your kid and lets him envision his future.

Reading habits should change together with the age and abilities of your kid:

Kid’s age	Reading activity	The aim
Up to 6 years old	While your kid is not able to read himself, read books to your kid. Show pictures, explain what you see, ask him to comment.	To show that reading is important.
6-7 years old	Once your kid starts learning to read, while reading to him, call attention to words. Ask him to read the first line (or word) in every page. Praise him for his efforts.	To teach him to read.
8-10 years old	Once your kid can read independently, encourage him to read as much as possible. Start from the books he enjoys the most. Set an example. Make a tradition to have a reading hour at home when everybody reads their favourite books.	To teach him that reading is enjoyable. Reading could be used instead of video games to achieve the same result – joy and happiness.
11 years and up	It is time to encourage your kid to read educational books – inspirational, biography or history books. Try to give to your kid to read inspirational books as early as possible and look how he reacts. It is important to keep reading enjoyable, therefore, if you see that your kid is not yet interested in educational books, wait a year or more.	To inspire him to achieve more in life. To show how to achieve the things he wants to achieve. To help him learn from history and other people who lived in this world before him.

If you could read the same books as your kid and then discuss them with him, it would be great. Consider listening to educational audiobooks on your way to school or on a longer trip. Discuss what you heard and how you interpret that! It would be an invaluable lesson for your kid.

2. Limit screen time

Research shows that limiting screen time is essential in raising financially free kids.

Therefore, if you have not done it yet, make clear rules how you limit screen time for your kid.

Here is a 4-step plan how to limit screen time and grow your kid’s responsibility and independence.

Step 1. Tell your kid how much time she has for playing video games. After the time is gone, ask her to stop immediately. You could use alarm clock to remind yourself (and her!) that time is over. Alarm clock makes things easier, as then it is the clock and not you who sets the rules.

Step 2. Ask your kid to set alarm clock herself and check whether she finishes playing on time. If she does not do it, ask her to stop immediately. Go back to Step 1 and try Step 2 later on.

Step 3. Ask your kid to set alarm clock herself and do not control her anymore. However, if you see that she plays too long, you might need to come back to Step 2 (or even Step 1).

Step 4. Once your kid is comfortable with Step 3 and finishes playing as agreed, make an experiment. Tell her that playing time is unlimited. However, make sure to her that if she does not manage to finish playing within reasonable amount of time, you would be forced to go back to Step 3. Chances are that until your kid is 12-14 years old, you would need to stick to Step 3. However, the older the kid becomes, the less control over screen time you should exercise.

3. Teach your kid to learn from mistakes

This might sound counterintuitive but the fact is that the more mistakes your kid makes, the more and the quicker he learns. Therefore, I would suggest you play a game “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.”

Ask your kid to think of 3 new things he could do this week that he has never done before. It could be washing the dishes, cleaning the table or making a PowerPoint presentation. Observe him doing those things and don’t say a thing.

Once he finishes doing that, discuss – what went right and what went wrong? Why? What lessons did he learn? The most important thing is to stay away from moralising and just give your neutral observations, where necessary.

Do you want to test how good you are at teaching other areas of financial freedom? Take the Financial IQ test for Parents now!