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Tips #1 & 2: Using Restaurants to Teach
Here are some behaviors we've adopted to teach our children to make wise choices.
1) Each month one family member picks a restaurant at which we will eat. The first challenge is finding an evening when we are all available. We have given our kids a price range for the meal that includes food, tax, and tip. This month our oldest child got to choose the restaurant and his first concern was whether others would like his choice. I urged him not to worry about that, but to make a decision based on what he really wanted. That may sound like odd parenting, except that this is our child who is a pleaser and so I am trying to teach him to stick up for his preferences. With our other children the lessons are different - effectively considering the cost, thinking of others, etc.
2) We have begun showing our children the bill so that they understand the following lessons: A) Drinks cost more than you think. Recently I was at Bob Evans with our youngest and he had a glass of milk. When he drained it, the server asked if he wanted another and he said, "Yes." When we got the bill we noticed that there are no free refills on milk at Bob Evans. Our server had not told us that, but did say when asked, "It says that on the menu." We talked about whether that was good service or whether she should have alerted us to that fact prior to refilling his glass. B) Tax and tip are part of the cost of a meal. We typically tip 20% for good service. We ask our children to evaluate the service and tell us what percentage they think is appropriate. Then we practice doing math in our heads and calculate the tip based on the food and tax portion.
Tips #3 & 4: Teaching Finances through Allowance and Cell Phones
3) We have instituted "Big Allowance" with our oldest child. We figured out what it costs to have him in our home for a year and then each month we give him 1/12 of that amount (not including groceries or utilities). He has a bank account with a credit union branch in his high school. He manages his funds. So far he has made some mistakes and there have been tendencies on the part of one parent to bail him out. For example, who knew that he was spending over $20 per month just on the delicious cookies in the cafeteria? The goal is for him to make mistakes now and to learn from those mistakes, rather than going to college, receiving a credit card offer, and ending up thousands of dollars in debt for pizza, movies, and clothes.
4) Recently we discussed canceling our landline and having cell phones for each family member. We discussed the risks and benefits - the number of minutes we would have using cell phones versus unlimited minutes on our home phone; the benefit of being able to reach each family member by cell; the fact that my wife would probably receive all generic family calls, etc. For now the consensus was NOT to replace our landline with cell phones. This is a remarkable turnaround for our middle child who has wanted a cell phone - I thought she would jump at the chance, but she reasoned through the benefits of a home phone and came to the conclusion that, for now, the current setup is best for her and the family. | 
