My children have the gimmies.

It's a sneaky syndrome, one with the ability to cripple a parent's budget and turn typically sweet kids into whiny little whelps.

Oh, who are we kidding? I suffer from it, too, mostly in the shoe department of Nordstrom.

The gimmies – which can be detected by phrases like "But Mo-om" and "Please can I have it?" – hits my kids in the supermarket toy aisle.

I desperately avoid this area if my preschoolers are in the shopping cart. Just a glimpse is enough to trigger the gimmies.

"Mama, I saw Ariel!" my daughter recently noted, her innocent, singsong voice dripping with hints that she longed for yet another Disney princess doll.

And heaven help me – and my financial fortitude – if we must visit the aisle to get a gift for another child.

Yet this aisle of temptation also offers a lesson, experts say.

It's a great opportunity to have a conversation about need vs. want, said Susan Vicchio, president of Junior Achievement of Sacramento Inc., which teaches financial literacy classes for children and teenagers.

"Ask 'Is it something we really need or something that we want?' " she said.

And those lessons can start early.

Donna Bland, chief executive officer of The Golden 1 Credit Union, began teaching her two teenagers about financial responsibility when they were just 7 years old.

"Very early on, I learned that I wanted to transition from me saying 'no' to everything they want to them deciding whether it was something they wanted to spend their money on," she said.

When they were young, Bland carried their debit cards for them. Her children earned a weekly allowance that matched their age. For example, $7 for a 7-year-old.

It was one thing to want something, another to spend their own money on it.

"Sometimes they would say, 'Nah, I don't want it,' " she said.

Lessons in money matters have been ongoing ever since, underscored by lessons in appreciation.

Last year, when Bland's daughter wanted extra money to buy gifts for others, Bland used it as a teachable moment. She thought of a project her 15-year-old would enjoy doing: cataloging family photos in an online photo album. "It's great and creative, and worked to her strengths," Bland said.

"She didn't ask me how much she'd get paid, though," Bland said. When Bland asked her daughter what she thought she should get paid for three hours of work, the amount suggested was $50.

Bland told her daughter to look up the minimum wage rate in California ($8), adding that federal minimum wage is $7.25. Bland paid the state rate.

"I wanted her to really understand how hard people have to work for a living," she said.

Many teenagers want to learn more about money matters. According to the 2007 Charles Schwab Teens and Money survey, the latest one available, 93 percent of teenagers agreed it's important to know how to live within their means and to have good money habits to be successful in life, and 90 percent agreed that "I like the feeling of earning and managing my own money."

Yet only 63 percent of those surveyed said they were knowledgeable about money management, including budgeting, saving and investing.

The good news is teaching your children about money, and its value, isn't harder these days, Bland said.

"You have to do it differently than when we were younger," she said. "We carried around cash as kids. But just because they're not physically holding cash in their hand doesn't mean they don't understand the value of money."

And the younger generation's fascination with technology? Harness it and let them use it in their – and your – favor. Balances can be checked via text messages or smartphone apps.

"It's actually easier now to teach them about finances," Bland said. "(Teenagers) want to use technology in order to manage their accounts – it's how they manage everything in their life."

Look for free checking accounts that let you, the parent, be a joint account holder. And thanks to new laws, the account can't be overdrawn for point-of-sale transactions unless the customer opts in to allow for overdrafts. If the teen doesn't have enough money in the account, the transaction will be denied at the counter, Bland said.

"Having their own account makes (the teenager) feel proud, as well," she said. "They like feeling responsible. They want to be responsible."

And it's our job to teach them how.

Have you come up with great ways to teach your kids about money? Send me your suggestions and ideas at nlofing@sacbee.com.

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Call The Bee's Niesha Lofing, (916) 321-1270.

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