BPWCCUL teaches children to make smarter money choices

T

he Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited (BPWCCUL) wants children to start thinking about saving, budgeting and spending wisely.

The credit union hosted its Before the Bell Rings Back-to-School Financial Literacy Workshop on Thursday at its Belmont Road, St Michael branch, where 70 children aged seven to 16 took part.

Marketing Officer Khadija Millar said the initiative was designed to give children a strong financial foundation while supporting families who participated in the credit union’s Back-to-School Loan promotion.

“What we’ve done is that we’ve facilitated the children of parents who applied for a back-to-school loan and we’ve also partnered with the One Family Programme, which is a government program that provides resources for vulnerable families in Barbados,” she said.

Millar said the workshop focused on practical lessons children could apply to everyday life, including budgeting, saving and understanding the difference between wants and needs.

“Just having that foundation of learning how to manage your money, learning how to put aside money for some things that you might need and some things that you might want, and just having that early start in terms of how to manage money, how to save money, and how to spend money,” she explained.

The children were divided into two age groups to ensure the activities and lessons were appropriate for their level of understanding.

Children aged seven to 10 took part in interactive presentations, games and group discussions, while those aged 11 to 16 learned about budgeting, saving and smart money habits through a financial challenge, group discussion and a question-and-answer session.

Millar explained that splitting the groups was important because younger children required a different approach to learning about money.

“The activities for the seven to 10 are going to be more interactive, more engaging, a bit more fun. We’re going to have games for them,” she said.

For the older group, she said the sessions provided “a little bit of a better understanding of money”, while still reinforcing the fundamentals of budgeting, saving and distinguishing between wants and needs.

Millar said she hoped the lessons would remain with the children as they grew older.

Loans Recovery Officer Kyle McCollin, who worked with the 11- to 16-year-olds, said it was important for the children to use the workshop as an opportunity to build skills that would help them in the future.

“Today we come together to learn, grow, build smart money habits for the future,” he said.

McCollin also thanked parents and guardians for encouraging their children to attend, noting that their involvement was important in helping young people develop the confidence to make financial decisions.

“Your support plays a vital role in helping them develop the knowledge and confidence to make wise financial decisions.”

(LE)