All through time parents have looked for ways to teach kids about managing money. The method my parents used was probably the same as most use today.

The money teaching goes something like this:

“Kid, learn to save your money for a rainy day”

And that’s about it as far as parental advice on money management went, along with phrases like “A fool and his money shall soon be parted”

I guess they were inadvertently calling me a fool. While they had great intentions, I was never truly educated in how to manage money. The lack of education resulted in running my credit cards to the max and taking years to pay down those bills.

I never want my children to go down the same path as me so I am constantly looking for fun and interesting ways to teach them about money, credit, shopping habits, and general financial responsibility.

My daughter, at her recent birthday party, was given a stuffed animal that came with a little tag containing information to play games and shop in a virtual world. The stuffed animal was a little grey and white cat and the toy is a huge fad with kids.

The toy is called a Webkinz. At first I was incredibly agitated that a company would create a virtual world to teach my daughter how to shop online!

I was astounded! I was irate! I was furious!

How could Ganz, the parent company that created Webkinz World, have the audacity to teach my daughter how to add products to an online shopping cart and proceed through the checkout process? The nerve of them!

There was no way I was going to let me daughter play in this virtual world alone, so we started playing in Webkinz World together and then I noticed something.

In the virtual Webkinz World, there is the doctor’s office, a career center to get a job, and of course a shopping mall.

I began to ease up on my opinion of Webkinz because my daughter had a limited amount of Webkinz bucks to buy stuff for her little grey and white cat. She went wild on purchases all sorts of frivolous items for her cat and was very soon out of Webkinz bucks.

Soon her little cat became hungry and there was no food and no money to buy food. My daughter had to sell many of the items she purchases for less than the original purchase price.

No fair! Said my daughter.

And the financial education began. The conversations I have had with my daughter because of playing in Webkinz World have proven to be the best way for me to educate her about money. Suddenly my 6 year old has a growing respect for money management and seems to understand that Mommy and Daddy can’t buy everything we want because we have to pay for food, shelter, bills and everyday life expenses before we can buy fun stuff.

If you are looking for a fun way to teach your kids about money then get your kids a Webkinz pet. Play with your child in the virtual world and have open discussions about money instantly.