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It won’t be every Sunday but from time to time I would like to post thoughts like this:

For us, money is what we have at the end of the day when we use the skills and talents God has given us in His creation. Money is the “fruit” we are able to offer back to God – and the most significant in our cultural context because money is our standard for all types of exchange. Once we have earned it and offered some back to God, money is a tool we can use to do God’s work (e.g., provide for the homeless and hungry, spread the Gospel) and provide the necessities for our family’s own life: food, clothing, shelter, education and savings for emergencies.

How do we teach our children about money? The first thing parents can do is make sure their children see them putting their envelope in the offering basket every time it is passed around. Children are “copy-cats” and will want to do the same. Toddlers can hold the family’s envelope and place it in the basket. The babas’ (baba means “Grandmother”, not necessarily your own!) custom of slipping each young child around them a quarter to put in the basket is a good one: it allows them to participate in giving, even if the money isn’t actually “their” money.

As children get older, much to the chagrin and subsequent joy of parents, they learn two things: that they can own things (”my” toys, “my” clothes, “my” favorite blanket), and that other people also can own things. As this second realization hits, you’re able to teach children about respecting others’ property and why we “take care of things”, and you can teach them how to share.

Children at this phase should be told, in simple terms, that God “owns” everything (since He made it) and that everything we have is a “gift” from God. He shares with us, and we should be ready to share, too.

Encourage children to share any gifts of money they get for birthdays, Christmas and such- to “thank God” for the gift they received by giving some of it back to Him at Church. (If God gave us a delicious cake with frosting and sprinkles, we’d want to cut it and give Him a piece, right?)

A child will eventually begin to earn money on his own, whether in the form of an allowance given for chores done in the home, or earnings from a paper route, babysitting, or a lawn-cutting business.

This is the next step: Explain that people are able to work and earn money because God has made them healthy, and given them the talents, skills and raw materials they use in their work. They are now earning their own money, too.

They are “in charge” of their money, and will decide how it is spent, but they need to remember to give some back to God every week, just like Momand Dad.This is why it’s so important for parents to set the example of regular giving right from the beginning!

Most parents sit down with their children when they first start earning their own money and teach them how to “divide” it for savings (e.g., for college or a car) and spending (mad money). It’s very easy to include “God” and “the Church” as one of the regular divisions.

Parents should not force children to give part of their earnings. Children should make their offering on their own, however small or large. Once they start making an offering, they should be encouraged to “keep at it,” and give consistently.

In the Old Testament, the animals selected to be taken to the Temple for sacrifice to God were always the very best from the herd, or the “cream of the crop”. Anything less was not a fitting offering to God.

With money, you can start the idea in simple terms: young children can select the “shiniest” coins to go into the offering basket; older kids can take the bills or coins from the top of the stacks after they’re done counting. Later, you can explain and reinforce the idea of the first portion, and that to know what is the best (fitting for tribute to God), you have to look at everything and separate out the part that will be offered to God before you do anything else. Giving to God comes first – before the part devoted to a new bike or computer game – because without Him we would have nothing at all!

In addition to being given consistently and “from the top”, our offerings should be a significant part of our earnings – a set percentage that is maintained as earnings rise and fall. The Old Testament guideline for giving was the “tithe”, or 10% of total income (see Genesis 28:22). This is still the goal.

The actual amount given by young people is not important, but if they decide to give 10% of what they earn from a paper route and follow through, they are more likely to tithe when they are through college and have established a home and family of their own.

Finally, it is important that children are taught that worldly wealth is not a sign of God’s blessings: the richest are not the most favored, just as the poor are not the least – scorned. We are cautioned against “laying up treasures on earth” and told in the Gospels to concentrate on spiritual treasure – coming to know God – instead (see Matthew 6:19-20), and to use what we are allowed to have wisely.

P.S. To my fellow Catholics who fainted when I said give 10%, it’s time we all get pass the one dollar donation!!!

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