Is there a guide on how to teach children about bitcoin? In schools they rarely talk about economics and if they do, they practically talk about teenagers. Education in South America is crap, for that reason my husband and I do not leave our daughter's education in the hands of the state. She goes to school because homeschooling is not legal in this country, but that does not prevent us from instilling in her the knowledge that we want her to learn, such as freedom of expression (with respect), self-defense and economics according to her age and according to the doubts she may have about it. Last week my daughter (7 years old) asked me what the word economics means, I explained it to her in a simple way and after processing it she said: "In my school they don't teach me the things they explain to "Richie Rich", but I have you (my husband and I) to teach me." That comparison made me laugh a lot.
In 2021, Bitcoin came into our lives to change the way we think and live. By that year, my daughter was 4 years old and she always saw my husband on the laptop looking at the graphs of Bitcoin, gold, among others. She would approach him out of curiosity to ask what it was. She was very young so my husband would explain it to her in a way that she could understand.
One day, while playing with her Barbies, she tells me: look mom, these are dad's (Ken) graphics:
It is supposed to be a screen they use in hospitals but she has never seen it like that, she says it is a computer with graphics.
Another day, my daughter was doing crafts with my husband, they made a flyer with applications (made of cardboard) and these were the ones she decided to "download": SN, McDonald's, WhatsApp, YouTube kids and Facebook (I didn't understand why if we don't use that)
Yes, she knows about SN because she hears us talk about it, she asks us questions and we answer her. I like that she is interested in learning about these topics and I want to take advantage of that curiosity to teach her.
There is this app that allows you give sats to kids for doing chores. Also a nice way to teach kids about Bitcoin early on. https://chorly.co/bitcoin
That's great, I didn't know that. Thanks!!
Tuttle twins have a great episode about bitcoin. There are also a couple books and games for kids about bitcoin. I think letting them earn some via zbd games etc is a good starting point. They get some sats and then send some sats and you explain along the way that they are using the lightning network and what the difference between base chain and layer 2 are and the difference between a custodial wallet like zbd and a self custodial wallet. Of course you do this over time.
Oh! I don't know the Tuttle twins, I'll look them up. I downloaded a couple of simple games for him, and he says: "Mom, lend me your phone to earn satoshis."
Regarding the wallets, I must explain more. Recently, she was asking me if she could buy things with the sats. We explained to her that it was possible and she was amazed.
https://www.angel.com/watch/tuttle-twins/episode/de46fca9-d387-47f5-b13f-ff336885518c/season-2/episode-3/bitcoin-and-the-beast
If you use LNBITS, you can start a piggy bank for them with this mask I made for it.
https://bitcoinpiggybank.vercel.app/
Here's what it looks like when you get all logged in.
view on www.youtube.comExcellent, thank you very much!
Let me know if you need any help getting plugged in.
SN fee credits:
🤣
I've read The Free Child: A Libertarian Guide to Raising Independent, Self Confident Children by Frances Kendall
One of the things this book mentions, is that your child is basically just a very inexperienced person. This is not entirely true as my book about the human brain points out (there are many parts of the brain that grow in different rates that cause children to act very differently than adults), but to speak in a short amount of words its true enough to be useful.
Remember that kids are not generally "set in their ways". They are way easier to teach than adults. Simply setting up a testnet wallet for them will typically be enough to show them how to use Bitcoin.
https://padawanwallet.com/ The above link is a very nice testnet wallet that goes over the basics of using Bitcoin.
https://blixtwallet.github.io/ Blixt wallet not only has an interactive demo on their website, but they also have a testnet version of their application.
mempool.space does actually allow you to see your testnet transaction in the testnet mempool. https://mempool.space/testnet
When they're ready, you could pay their allowance in Bitcoin, show them the online stores (https://www.lightningnetworkstores.com/) and it may even be fun to have a small store of your own that accepts Bitcoin.
Last but not least, there are plenty of other posts on SN where people express their experience talking about Bitcoin with their children and I implore you to read those as well.
I laughed too hard at that picture, my daughter is more interested in learning about bitcoin than my parents and my sisters, I try and try but they are not interested, so I am just focusing on teaching my daughter.
Thank you very much for the recommendations, I will review each one of them
In my experience, children understand bitcoin easily. Its the years of school and misinformation that make it hard to learn about.
I agree with you, it is easier to learn than to unlearn; I have as an example my parents who do not want to learn and on the contrary my daughter who is eager to understand.
totally. my kids understand it easily. But they have had me around half of their lives talking about it. Those who have a lot of conditioning are not easy at all.
It is part of everyday conversations at home, that helps a lot, it is not like you are going to sit them down for an hour a day to explain to them but rather that they learn in everyday life.
Exactly. Money is just part of life.
I think it'd be better you practically show her what is Bitcoin all about. Also l fell it because you already use bitcoin she will/should inherit from you. Best of luck. I'm also very new so can't suggest a book or material.
We are here to learn, thanks for your idea
I have a couple of young kids (under 4). I think about this a lot but its a little early at the moment.
I think to try and portray that Bitcoin is a great savings technology somehow. Like if you don't spend it, it will be worth more in the future.
Yes! You have to teach them all that, little by little as they grow and as you see that they understand. You will do great.
any child born after 2009 will understand bitcoin if you use it in front of them.
Kids are sponges for anything and that’s why she is copying your husbands chartboi work lol
That's right, children are sponges and a mirror of their parents, the question is: What do you want to reflect in your children?
I want my daughter to be a woman, intelligent, independent, self-sufficient.
A little anecdote: My daughter heard us talking about communism, she got curious and spent 3 days in a row asking me what it meant, I explained it to her and the next day when I went to pick her up from school she told me that she tried to talk about communism with her classmates but they didn't pay attention to her. I found it funny, have you ever talked to a 7 year old about communism?
I just teach my kids to be kind to others and enjoy life.
That's right, respect and being happy is the main thing.
To understand Bitcoin it is helpful to firstly understand how the fiat monetary system operates. Perhaps less than 1% of citizens understand this. If you are one of them then educate your children. If you do not yet understand the fiat system then study it. The Fiat Standard would be a good book to start with.
Thank you very much for the recommendation, of course, you must first understand the basics.
You can play monopoly with her, I wrote about it here: #656614
I love that idea, we've been thinking about buying a monopoly for a while now and I don't know why we haven't done it. Thanks!! An excellent post
There are some books about BTC for kids. This is my favorite: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Money-Tale-Bitville-Discovering/dp/0578490676/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=30GYO1I15QY4N&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._8eVD5Di6uhmjrkQ8UsLwUU6bohiBTDpLc0I1mif0U781tEgKJ-SUSwCrJzz3EkomkJfwkrfUClZjXUVSnwNQuRrpqtsXKkr-03Rtc5SJIKdD5qprTf9fF7psZKcfW8LpfK40RpdYcdkGPHV1vmRF5F6DvtNcDArX7fAkiPCI7L6Ccc--lilJGQsCEqM6DLdiTi90n3xSNEUQnyMHfwZhQ.7p0HeWpSY77ONui95KlXawIlyuBb0Nugl5-31wAPTxU&dib_tag=se&keywords=bitcoin+book+for+kids&qid=1725902830&sprefix=bitcoin+book+for+k%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-3
It looks very cool, thanks for the recommendation
Excellent experience, I congratulate you, you are excellent parents and you are making a great effort. I am trying to do the same with my 5-year-old grandson, I hope to have good results like you. I reiterate my congratulations. Keep doing the right thing. I know that in the SOUTH cone there is the Mi Escuelita Bitcoin project run by Ernesto, a very hard-working Uruguayan. You can look for information with him because he has a lot of experience with children in his work.
Also the Mi Primer Bitcoin guys in El Salvador have a free downloadable workbook on their website
You are a great grandfather. Before, grandparents gave away bills, you will be one of those who give away sats and even better, you will teach him about bitcoin. Thanks and congratulations to you too. I didn't know about that project, I'm going to look for it. Thank you so much, it was a great suggestion.
May be I should try with my little sister
Do it! Take advantage, don't waste time, it's one of the best things you can give as a brother, imagine your sister in the future as an independent bitcoiner woman
This is a good book for kids https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Michael-Caras/dp/0578490676
Perfect! Thanks, I was also looking for books
SHAmory has a lot of stuff for kids (e.g. books and card games).
How great! I really didn't imagine there was so much material to teach children about bitcoin, I think it's the best thing in the world. Thank you!!
You’re welcome!
They are never too young to learn about BTC
#689349
i set my 9 year old up with a WOS wallet and pay her weekly pocket money on there in sats.
i think the best way to talk about bitcoin is to first talk about inflation using simple metaphors, like inflation is like adding water to a soup - it expands the volume and dilutes the taste.
then explain why bitcoin was created and how it is a hard and scarce form of money etc
Of course, I'd like to explain the basics so they understand why Bitcoin is the best option, because otherwise they'd ask themselves, "Why am I going to use Bitcoin if there are already banknotes?" I liked that metaphor! Does your daughter know how to use her wallet a little bit, or is it not time yet?
WoS is pretty easy so she knows how to generate an invoice for me to scan, or open the qr code.
since nowhere near us accepts anything in sats and she just accumulates, i was thinking of showing her bybit because you can buy robucks on there for sats. so i thought that would be a good way of translating pocket money in sats into something she can use
How exciting, I was thrilled to see my daughter doing that. I can only imagine the pride you felt seeing your daughter generating her first invoice.
it's pretty cool yeah, what's even cooler is that kids just accept things as normal because they haven't been pre-programmed, unlike grownups.
like here's some tech, here's what it does, here's why satoshi created it. no banks involved.
a bit like how a small child can easily understand why debt is not a good thing (and never was throughout all of history) and printing money is not good (also true in all of history), whereas allegedly smart people will opine on how debt is fantastic and endless growth is possible and somehow good
PoW! 👏