Use a checkbook register to teach children about managing money.

I have NEVER regretted how I taught my girls how to manage their finances.  I started when they were very young.  We gave them an allowance, but we never gave them the cash.  We kept all of their money, including gifts from grandparents or from birthdays, and logged the amount into a paper register from a checkbook.  (This might be outdated by the time my grandchildren read this, but they can always do a "search" on an image of a checkbook register.)  I "added" any allowance or money gift into the register and carried them in my purse.  If the girls ever asked us for a toy or clothing or something they really wanted, we showed them how much they had in their register, and determined if they had enough to buy what they wanted.  I would pay for their item, and subtract the amount from the register.  Years later, my oldest daughter found her register book.  She added up all of the expenditures and came to a wonderful conclusion.  "Mom, I don't use any of these items I bought, and if I still had that money, I would have $XXX left."  (I think it was around $7-800, which at the time was a huge amount to this young girl in the mid 1990's.  We had the girls all get jobs at 16, and then told them to save what they earned for college.  We would pay for their education at a state university, for books and room and board.  But they would have to pay for all social activities.  We never gave our girls a credit card, never let them have unlimited spending, and they had to manage all of their finances during these years.  As a result., we have raised them to be three fiscally responsible adults.