Other things we’ve done so far to teach fiscal prudence:

Made him save up for an expensive toy instead of just buying it for him. (We normally only buy them stuff for Xmas and birthdays, anyway.)

Talk to our children about economic stuff, whenever we see a teachable moment. Sample topics: stocks and bonds, why a local business we drive past may have failed, the credit crisis, the gold standard and inflation. Talking about the disconnect from the precious metal standard, was a good introduction to the idea that money is valuable only b/c we assign value to it, and that it represents time you spent working (life energy, a la Dominguez/Robin). He is only 6.5, but he soaks it up!

And also giving them a chance to donate, or see you giving to a charity, teaches them to share their money with others.

Save before anything else.
I give our young child his pocket money as two coins and he puts one in his piggy bank (which he can’t open by himself) and the other in his purse to spend. Hopefully this will encourage the habit of saving automatically.

Pay them interest on their piggy bank.
At the start of every month I count his savings with him and give him 1 percent, recording it in a little notebook. At the moment he just likes playing with the coins but eventually he’ll realise he’s getting free money just by not spending it.

I don’t want to give him handouts when he’s older (can’t afford to anyway!) but good education should hopefully be worth more.