Parents in the UAE are being reminded that money lessons start at home, long before a child receives their first paycheque.
During Global Money Week earlier this month, Zoud, the National Financial Wellbeing and Sustainability initiative held an online workshop for UAE parents in partnership with wellbeing platform Siira.
Experts urged mothers and fathers to move past their discomfort and start having open, age-appropriate conversations about finances. The key message was simple- children learn more from what they see than from what they are told.
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Why silence is not protection
Many parents avoid talking about money to shield their children from stress. However, according to Nina Abi Fadel, a social impact expert and founder of the financial literacy programme Money Smart, this silence can backfire.
“Protection without preparation is not actually protection,” she said. “When we avoid the conversation about money, we don’t remove money from our children’s world. We remove ourselves as the guide.”
Nina explained that by age seven, core money habits are already forming. Children absorb emotions like anxiety, safety, or excitement simply by watching their parents pay bills or shop. “Before children understand money, they understand how we feel about it,” she added.
The three money personalities
The workshop introduced three common “money archetypes” to help parents understand their own behavior: the Protector, who focuses on safety, the Spender, who enjoys the present, and the Builder who plans for the future.
Most parents identified as Protectors, but Nina warned that taking any trait too far can be harmful. For example, if a Protector is overly strict, “children learn that money is stress or fear, and they grow up feeling they are not trusted to handle it.”
Practical tips for every age
For younger children between the ages of five and eight, experts recommended a simple ‘three bucket system’ using jars labeled spend, save, and grow. For tweens between the ages of 9 and 12, a weekly allowance paired with reflective questions like “Did you regret that purchase?” helps build decision-making skills. Nina also advised parents to give teenagers a prepaid debit card to track digital spending so they can track their spending habits.
She reiterated that parents do not need to be financial experts to teach their children good money habits. Simple questions work best, such as: “Do you want one small thing now, or something bigger later?”. She said that talking about money needed to happen sooner than later “one conversation at a time.”
Source: Khaleej Times