Money: an emotionally-charged topic Money can represent power, control, acceptance, freedom, independence, and many other strong feelings and beliefs that can be hot buttons for youth (and adults). The Money HabitudesTM cards were developed to be used as a quick activity to plant the seeds for thinking about money in new ways and to provide a great opening activity with non-judgmental language before working with the more structured financial literacy activities. However, they are also designed to help teens make the link between money and other parts of their lives—such as how their habits and attitudes about money developed and how they can play a part in their relationships, education, jobs, and career choices. For some students that link can lead to sharing information about their families or their own experiences that could be very personal. For example: one teen revealed that he learned to hide his money so his father would not steal it and spend it on his girlfriend. Another said that her mother instructed her to say certain things to the judge that weren’t true to get her father to pay more child support. In contrast to these types of spontaneously shared statements, another teen, who had a tumultuous home life, was unusually quiet, kept her cards private, and didn’t participate in the discussion although she was clearly interested and engaged. Be a sensitive adult! It’s very important to be extremely sensitive in response to these situations. If you are concerned that things will be inappropriately shared, you may want to be more structured in how you set up the discussions and you may opt to have students do worksheets or journal writing instead of sharing as a group. Don’t require everyone to share personal examples or display their card sort. Be aware! Know what issues are unique to your local culture or community. Maybe one local industry employs most of the adults in town or many families emigrated from another country and may have different customs. It is helpful to be aware of the mindset that might be prevalent in the school system, community, and among your teens and their families. VI | | MONEY HABITUDESTM COPYRIGHT © 2011 BY THE DIBBLE INSTITUTE