Children’s Day: The One Money Lesson We Never Taught Them

 

If you grew up in India, Children’s Day meant two things:
a cultural program at school and maybe a Dairy Milk or a mango bite if your teacher was generous.

What it never meant was a conversation about money.

We were taught multiplication tables, moral science and how to draw the national flag but nobody explained what a loan is, how tax works, or why savings matter.

And that gap follows us into adulthood.

Most Indians learn money through mistakes, not education.

Not because we’re careless but because nobody taught us how money works when we were kids.

The First Sign: Pocket Money Economics

Let’s start with something simple: pocket money.

For many Gen Z and millennials, ₹50, ₹100, or ₹500 a month was our first “income.”

Most of us spent it instantly on samosas, stickers, cricket cards, candies.

No one asked us:

• Should you save?
• Should you budget?
• Should you track spending?

Why?
Because adults assumed:
“Kids don’t need to understand money. They’ll learn when they grow up.”

Spoiler: we didn’t.

According to a 2024 Axis Mutual Fund survey, 68% of young working Indians regret not learning money management earlier.

Worse 42% of Indians start investing only after 30.

That’s 10-12 years of lost compounding.

And compounding isn’t just math, it’s time.
Once you lose it, you don’t get it back.

Why Money Habits Start Before 18

A study by Cambridge University found something shocking:

Children form core money behaviour by age 7.

Yes, 7.

By the time a child can tie their shoelaces, they’ve already developed patterns like:

• impulse spending
• delayed gratification
• fear of risk
• saving mindset

So if we wait until they’re adults, we’re not teaching — we’re correcting damage.

The Indian Reality: Education Without Financial Education

India produces:

• 11 lakh engineers every year
• more MBAs than the US
• and nearly 1 crore new graduates annually

But only 17% of Indians are financially literate (National Centre for Financial Education, 2023).

That means:

We can solve calculus, write code, crack entrance exams…
but many still don’t understand:

• how interest rates actually work
• how credit cards trap you
• why FD isn’t the ultimate investment
• or how inflation silently erodes wealth

We teach kids how to earn.

But never how to manage, multiply or protect what they earn.

Where It Begins: The First Bank Account

Remember your first bank account?

You didn’t open it — your parents did.

You didn’t understand why — they just said:

“Good, a bank account is important.”

But nobody explained:

• What is a savings interest rate?
• Why does inflation matter?
• What does it mean when a bank says 4% annual return?

Most kids assume:
“Money in the bank grows.”

Reality?
If inflation is 6% and your bank pays 3.5%, your money is shrinking.

Slowly. Quietly. Predictably.

Then Comes the Credit Trap

The next milestone?

Your first credit card.

The bank gives it with a smile.
And a line that sounds harmless:

“Minimum due: ₹500.”

That line alone has trapped millions.

RBI data (2025) shows:

• Credit card outstanding debt crossed ₹2.45 lakh crore
• Late fee + interest generates massive profits for banks
• Average interest? 30–42% annually

But again nobody teaches this in school.
You learn it when you’re already paying for it.

Literally.

Children Watch More Than They Listen

If parents fight about money, kids learn:
“Money is stressful.”

If parents hide expenses, kids learn:
“Money is secret.”

If parents openly budget, save, and invest, kids learn:
“Money is a skill.”

Financial behaviour is inherited — silently.

So This Children’s Day: What Should Change?

Not toys.
Not chocolates.

Habits. Conversations. Mindsets.

Here are meaningful changes that actually shape wealth:

1. Give Allowance With Structure, Not Blindly

Instead of:
“Here’s ₹500.”

Try:

• ₹300 for spending
• ₹100 for saving
• ₹100 for investing

Kids learn allocation not consumption.

2. Show Them Compounding With a Real Example

Tell them:

“If you invest ₹1,000 a month from age 12 at 12%, by age 30 you’ll have around ₹7.5 lakh.”

If they start at 22 instead?

Barely ₹3.5 lakh.

Same amount.
Same return.
Time makes the difference.

3. Teach Them the Cost of Delay

Use a simple rule:

Money grows when you wait. Debt grows when you delay.

They’ll remember that more than a textbook paragraph.

4. Make Investing Normal Conversation

Stocks, mutual funds, budgeting –  these shouldn’t be adult-only topics.

Kids who grow up around responsible financial conversation become adults who make better financial decisions.

5. Let Kids Make Small Money Mistakes

A ₹200 mistake at 12 is education.

A ₹20 lakh mistake at 32 is disaster.

Because Here’s the Truth

The world our children will inherit is one where:

• Inflation won’t slow down
• Jobs won’t guarantee security
• AI will replace routine work
• Retirement will require planning, not luck

Money skills will matter more than ever.

Not because money is everything
but because without it, everything becomes harder.

So This Children’s Day, Forget the Balloons.

Teach them:

• how to save
• how to invest
• how to question financial offers
• how to understand loans before signing them

Teach them the one chapter the Indian education system skipped:

Financial literacy.

Because every child will eventually grow up.

But not every adult learns how to handle money.

Closing Line

If childhood shapes habits, then Children’s Day shouldn’t only celebrate potential
it should prepare it.

Money isn’t the goal.

But understanding money protects every dream they’ll ever build.