This story is part of WTOP’s 2026 Back to School coverage.
Back-to-school shopping can be a lot to manage as summer ends. But a financial expert told WTOP those trips for notebooks, pencils and new clothes can also be an opportunity to teach your children valuable lessons about money.
“It is so important to have those money conversations with your kids as early as you can,” Jessica Perrone, an accredited financial counselor and founder of HerFinIQ.
She said shopping for school supplies can help children learn the difference between needs and wants while making spending decisions.
“Really involving them in the conversations: what needs are, what wants are. ‘OK, we have X amount of money. What do you really want? What do you really need?'”
She said it’s important for children to see firsthand how far a dollar really goes.
“Give them the cash to go into the store and really see how far that money goes. I mean, that is a huge eye-opening experience for kids,” she said. “When we start bringing the kids into the budget conversation at an early age, they learn the value of money.”
Giving children the opportunity to to prioritize their spending can help set them up for financial success later in life, Perrone said.
“When you really empower the kids to really think about what those needs are, what those top three things that they absolutely cannot live without, they really do start and surprise us,” she said.
Perrone also said helping children find a part-time job can teach them lessons about earning, spending and saving money.
“Empowering them to come up with their own income streams and saying, ‘OK, I will, I will take care of your needs up to this level, and that’s my budget. And if you want anything above that, well, go work for it.’ And I feel like we don’t have that conversation enough with our kids as well.”
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