Three Cups: Teaching Children How to Save, Spend and Be Charitable with Money (Review and Giveaway)

Teaching kids about money and finances should start as early as possible. So many teenagers and adults are ignorant about financial matters because nobody ever sat down with them and taught them how to balance a checkbook, invest their money, use credit cards wisely, negotiate loans, and more. That’s why it’s so important that we begin talking to children about money management at a young age. Of course, the discussion must be age-appropriate. You don’t need to be discussing the pros and cons of various stock options to a four-year-old. However, there are plenty of ways you can start teaching your children about money even in preschool.

One great way is through the book, Three Cups, by Mark St. Germain (and illustrated by April Willy). It’s the story of a little boy who received a very unusual present for his fifth birthday. His gift was three ordinary coffee cups from the cupboard and an envelope with a small allowance. The little boy’s parents explained that, whenever he received money, he should divide it among the three cups, which were allotted for savings, spending, and charity. Of course, the little boy wasn’t too thrilled about his gift at first. But as the days, weeks and years passed, he learned fascinating concepts, like how the money he saved in the bank accrued interest! And that the money set aside for charity could do great things for people, which made him feel good, too. And, of course, the spending money could be combined to buy things he wanted for himself. When he graduated from high school, he was able to use the money in his savings account to help pay for college! Three Cups also includes a Parent’s Guide at the end of the book to explain how to implement the “Three Cups” system with your children.

Three Cups is a beautifully written story that entertains children, but teaches, too. My six-year-old twins really enjoyed reading this book and were very intrigued by the “Three Cups” system of money management. Since many people are facing money difficulties right now, this might even be a good system for all members of the family to share in together! It’s a gentle way to talk to kids about how times are tough without scaring them because this system empowers them to do something about it.

Visit www.3cupsbook.com to view a lovely video with pages from Three Cups. You can also order this beautiful hardcover book through Amazon (see link below) and other national book retailers. I highly recommend it.



GIVEAWAY (3 WINNERS!)

I have been blessed with THREE copies of Three Cups for three lucky readers of this blog. To enter, go to www.3cupsbook.com and then return here to leave a comment with your favorite parenting tip for teaching kids about the value of money. You must do this to enter the giveaway.

You may earn optional, additional entries by:

- Following me (@ParentingAuthor) on Twitter and tweeting about this giveaway. You may tweet this giveaway twice a day. Leave a separate comment with the URL of each tweet. (It’s easy to tweet this giveaway by using the Bookmark button at the bottom of this post.)

- Signing up for the Three Cups newsletter at www.3cupsbook.com.

- Following Susan Heim on Parenting through Google Friend Connect. Click on the “Follow” button on the left sidebar. Leave a comment.

- Putting a button for Susan Heim on Parenting on your blog (the code is in the upper right-hand column of this site) and/or a text link on your blog roll. Post a comment with your blog’s URL.

- Posting this giveaway on your blog with a link to this page. Leave a comment with a direct link to the post. (3 entries; leave a separate comment for each)

- Listing Susan Heim on Parenting as one of your Favorites on Technorati. (See “Add this Blog to My Technorati Favorites” banner on the left sidebar.) Leave a comment with your Technorati user name.

- Subscribing to Susan Heim on Parenting via email, RSS and/or Kindle (see sign-up options on left sidebar). Leave a comment for each subscription method.

Three winners will be randomly selected from the qualified comments received by Friday, March 12, 2010, at midnight ET. Please leave an email address on one of your comments if it’s not available on your Blogger profile. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be drawn. U.S. addresses only.

CONTEST CLOSED. Congratulations to our winners: "Miss" Anita, ossmcalc, and Anonymous (theyyyguy@yahoo.com)!





DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of Three Cups to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.