Teaching your kids about money

Regardless of what age your child is when you decide to give pocket money, it's important to gauge if he or she is receptive to learning about or handling money. Our bay expert, Jenni Johnson, offers advice….


If your child has little interest in cash, you may be better off handling requests for toys or treats as the situation arises. If you start an allowance that is tied to chores or school marks and your child is unmotivated by the money, you may choose to wait until he or she is older.


A nice way to work on hand/eye coordination with children from as young as 6 months old is to blow bubbles and help them to pop them with a poke of a finger or a clap of hands. Another way is to build a tower of blocks and help your baby to knock it over or fill a basket with interesting objects like old remotes, phones, calculators and keys.


You might go from adoring your baby and marvelling at tiny fingers and toes to grieving your loss of independence and worrying about your ability to care for a newborn, all in the space of a nappy change. This is so common and absolutely normal. Accept as much support as is offered. I find my antenatal classes love their Whattsapp support groups and if you’re a single mum or have no grandparents in town this is invaluable.


If you have a young baby and feelings of anxiety, tiredness and a sense of desperation don’t go away, even though you may or may not  have excellent support please tell your clinic sister or doctor. Post natal depression is an illness and can be treated. I have posted signs and symptoms of PND on jennisays.com as well as a phone number. Leave a message and if we don’t pick up, we’ll get back to you.


Beach balls are great at any age, for a baby who isn’t crawling yet. Lie baby on his/her back and toss and catch the ball above her. When crawling happens push the ball in front of your little one and she/he will crawl after it. Once walking, show your toddler how to toss the beach ball into a laundry basket.

* Catch Jenni on-air every day just after 10am with her tip of the day.

Jenni Johnson, our resident ‘Baby Whisperer’, has been a practicing child-care practitioner for 15 years, and owns a busy ante and post natal clinic in Durban.

At Jenni’s ante and post natal clinic in Durban, parents are taught a system that gives them structure and routine to the baby and childhood years. Jenni has a nursing background. She’s a registered nurse, midwife, psychiatric nurse and a practicing child-care practitioner for the past 15 years. Jenni’s online clinic, can be accessed online via www.jennisays.com. For appointments, e-mail [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter via @JenniSays or on Facebook by 'liking' The Berea Baby Clinic.