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Interesting Ideas for Teaching Kids About Money

• Let's say you give your kids $5 a week in pocket money. When it's next time to fork over their allowance, offer them a choice: They can have the usual $5 right away -- or they can have $7, equal to a whopping 40% more, if they're willing to wait a week.

• Try varying the form of their pocket money. One week, give them five singles. The next week, give them a $5 bill. You will likely find your children are slower to spend the $5 bill.

• When her two kids mention things they want, Ms. Becker adds the items to each child's wish list. A few days or weeks later, she goes over the lists with her kids -- and sees which items they still want to buy with their own money or receive as birthday or holiday gifts. "When they were little, it surprised me that, by Friday, they sometimes couldn't remember a specific toy they so desperately wanted on Tuesday," Ms. Becker says.

• When Hannah went on her first school field trip, I gave her $5 and told her I wanted the change. She returned with a bag of trinkets and a few pennies. On the next trip, I gave her $5 again. But this time, I told her she could keep any money that was left over. She came back with $5.

All of these were new to me and each of them sparked some potential I'd like to explore with our kids. In particular, I like the first and third ideas. I plan to discuss them with my wife and try them out on a couple of unsuspecting children.

BTW, Jonathan Clements is the same guy who suggested asking kids whether they'd like a soda when eating out or if they'd prefer to have the $1 it would cost instead. His kids went from soda fiends to dollar junkies and lovers of water.

How about you?