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How Sammy Rabbit Books and Workbooks Help Parents Teach and Talk to Children About Money!
Do you find it difficult to talk to your children about money?
Do you find it challenging to get your kids to save and not spend money?
Do you regret not starting to save money as a child?
Do you wish someone had talked to you about the importance of getting into the habit of saving money as a child?
If so, you are not alone.
Several studies reflect talking to kids about money is a difficult challenge for parents. Sammy Rabbit children books (and music) help parents address this challenge. Sammy Rabbit is a warm, wholesome, lovable, strategic multi media money messaging machine who kids (and adults) easily form an emotional connection with. This emotional connection plus the use of vividly illustrated stories, catchy music, and memorable sayings like “saving is a great habit” make learning about money fun for children and make a dry subject easy for parents to teach.
What a University Evaluation Revealed About Sammy Rabbit
A two year study of Sammy Rabbit products and programs by the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension revealed that Sammy Rabbit had a positive impact on both students and teachers.
The evaluation revealed that students:
- Increased their understanding of meaning the of “saving”
- Believe they have choice on how to use money
- Better understand goal setting for saving money
- Better understand working toward a goal is sometimes hard
- Believe they can get into a habit of saving money that will last a whole life
- Believe saving money and reading are good habits
- Believe they can save a lot of money
Teachers surveyed shared that:
- 63% will talk more with children/youth about money matters
- 43% will teach children/youth more effectively about money matters
- 33% will improve their own money management
- 43% will increase their own savings
- 25% will decrease their own debt
What Experts, Moms, and Dads Say About Sammy Rabbit
Dr. Candace Poindexter, Child Literacy Expert, Professor, Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles
“I have reviewed your materials and think they are excellent... Overall, I think your tools would be great for children of any age, but especially for children between the ages of 4 and 8.”
Dr. Katy Merrill, 1999-2000 California Principal of the Year
“I really enjoyed reading It's a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! I particularly enjoyed predicting the chapter titles. That was fun! It's also unique. The message - saving is a great habit - is an important one for today's youth and comes across very clearly to the reader. This is a book every child and parent should read.”
Gerri Detweiler, Mom, Author: The Ultimate Credit Handbook
“…This is one of the great financial education programs for kids…my daughter adopted a totally different attitude about money and became more of a saver, practically overnight.”
Janet Bodnar, Mom, Editor Kiplinger, Author, Dollars and Sense for Kids
“…To encourage young kids to stash their cash in the first place, read It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit!”
Steve Rosen, Dad, Kansas City Star Kids and Money Columnist
“…An imaginative, inspiring way to teach kids about saving, spending, and financial decisions…”
Awards and Recognition
It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! 2008 Institute of Financial Literacy Children's Book of the Year Award in the Money Management Children Category.
Product Details
It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! Storybook
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages, 5 chapters, vivid illustrations
Publisher: It’s a Habit!
Language: English
Foreword: Janet Bodnar, Editor, Kiplinger Magazine
ISBN: 0-9713664-0-3
Product Dimensions: 10 3/4 by 7 7/8
Individual Price: $4.99
It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! Workbook
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 16 pages of money, reading, writing, math, choice making activities
Publisher: It’s a Habit!
Language: English
ISBN: 0-9713664-2-X
Product Dimensions: 10 3/4 by 7 7/8
Individual Price: $2.99
Sammy Big Dream! Storybook
Reading level: Ages 6-8
Paperback: 32 pages, 5 chapters, vivid illustrations
Publisher: It’s a Habit!
Language: English
Foreword: Laura Levine, Executive Director Jumpstart Coalition
ISBN: 0-9713664-4-6
Product Dimensions: 10 3/4 by 7 7/8
Individual Price: $4.99
Sammy Big Dream! Workbook
Reading level: Ages 6-8
Paperback: 16 pages of money, reading, writing, math, choice making activities
Publisher: It’s a Habit!
Language: English
ISBN: 0-9713664-3-8
Product Dimensions: 10 3/4 by 7 7/8
Individual Price: $2.99
What Sammy Rabbit Books Teach Children About Saving Money
In It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! children will learn:
- Saving is a great habit!
- Saving is easy when you make it a habit
- Saving is a smart choice
- Saving is better than wasting
- Saving prepares us for emergencies
- Saving helps us get what we want and need when we want and need it
- Saving shows leadership and builds esteem
In Sammy’s Big Dream! children will learn:
- It’s fun to dream big
- To set a goal, make a plan, work your plan
- Working hard helps make big dreams come true
- Saving is a great habit!
- Earning, saving, spending smartly, and giving are great habits
- Never give up
- Saying no and sacrificing can help us reach our goals
- Saving gives us more choices and helps make big dreams come true
- Saving shows leadership and builds esteem
More About Sammy Rabbit
Sammy ‘the get in the habit’ Rabbit is a friend, families love and learn with. Through his storybook adventures, songs, sayings, and skits at live appearances, Sammy inspires children, trainers, and teachers of all ages, but particularly kids ages 4 to 8, to start positive habits like saving money, reading, writing; and setting goals to become leaders of themselves; and to make BIG DREAMS come true for themselves and their families.
Some of Sammy favorite strategic and empowering sayings are:
- Saving is a great habit!
- Saving makes me strong!
- From every dollar, save a dime!
- Show your family the way!
- You can do it, now get to it!
Join Sammy Rabbit in his first mission – getting children and their families in the habit of saving money!
More About the Author and Publisher
It’s A Habit Company Inc. (IAHC) was co-created in 1998 by Sam X Renick in an effort to promote and encourage financial literacy in children. The Los Angeles micro-enterprise is dedicated to teaching financial literacy and other empowering life skills and habits, with a primary focus on young children and their families.
Renick, a former financial adviser turned award wining author, songwriter and social entrepreneur, was first struck with the idea when numerous clients expressed their disappointment at not learning financial prowess at an earlier age. After repeatedly hearing the same lamentations from his clients, Renick began writing It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! with assistance from his Financial and Insurance Services partner Alonso Silva Jr. Sam and Alonso later teamed up with illustrator Juan Alvarado and former Disney graphic designer, Carlos Rodriguez to form IAHC.
A graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Business, Renick has partnered with the Air Force Aid Society to bring financial awareness and saving strategies to the forefront of children’s minds. He spent the previous twelve years working for TRW and SAIC in subcontract and project management, where he became intimately familiar with the design and development process. As a result of immediately practicing the “from every dollar save a dime” philosophy, Sam was able to change careers twice, first in 1993 to start his own financial and insurance consulting firm, and later to form IAHC in 1998.
The mission of IAHC is to globally provide children, families, and organizations with strategic tools that encourage the multiplication of good habits, especially saving money. Along with original songs and coloring books, IAHC uses mascot Sammy Rabbit to instill in young children the importance of financial know-how.
Renick and his team are recognized the world over for their hand in raising financial awareness in the minds of youth, and have received numerous awards including a 2009 Induction onto the Loyola Marymount University “Entrepreneurs Wall of Honor”, as well as the prestigious Institute of Financial Literacy Children's Book of the Year Award in 2008.
With catchy mantras like “Don’t Spend More Than You Make,” and “From Every Dollar, Save A Dime,” and “Change Adds Up,” children are taught to take what use to be a dull and daunting subject and turn in into a fun, self-empowering life lesson.
About Financial Literacy and Financial Education
Financial literacy is a global problem that affects all economic levels and ages groups, particularly youth. Oddly, financial literacy is especially challenging in United States where the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy determined that the average student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills in the management of personal financial affairs. Many are unable to balance a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved with earning, spending, saving and investing. At the It’s a Habit Company we believe to increase financial literacy it is critical that a child’s financial education start early prior to their forming lifelong debilitating financial habits.
Tips for Mom and Dad on How and What to Teach Children About Money and Saving Money
Here are a few tips for parents, teachers, and trainers on teaching children about money from author, financial education, and financial literacy innovator Sam X Renick:
- Start with yourself. Focus on setting a good example and having your actions match your philosophy/words. Read, do online research, talk to other parents who you admire, continually working on improving your knowledge and execution of your money and personal finance philosophy and values. And be sure to use language around your children that encourages the prudent use of money. Remember, financial education is a lifelong process.
- Communicate. In other words talk about money with your children. Work on developing short, repeatable slogans that share your philosophy and values on money. Some of Sammy’s favorite slogans are: Saving is a great habit. Saving makes me strong. From every dollar, save a dime. Make your favorite sayings visible for your children to see.
- Emphasize involvement and interaction. Avoid preaching. Reading, questions, games, activity books, crafts, journaling, shopping, bill paying, coupon cutting, etc. are all excellent ways to get children involved and promote interaction around money.
- Start early. Books, music, slogans, games are a great way to begin and they can all start at birth.
- Get kids in the habit of saving! Anything that becomes a positive habit is easier to do. Sort, count, and most importantly deposit coins into transparent family and individual home banks starting at age two or three. Then, take your child to the bank or credit union to make deposits. Also, make sure your kids see you making deposits into ATMs, not just making withdrawals. You may also want to use the following phrase when making either ATM deposits or withdrawals “you can not take out, what you do not put in.”
- Set goals and develop plans to execute those goals. Journals, lists, arts and crafts projects, decorating banks, posting pictures on refrigerators and other visible places are all good activities to develop goal setting and planning skills.
- Develop an earning ethic. Define some tasks above and beyond normal household chores that give your child an opportunity to earn money.
- Work on smart spending and giving skills. Turn off the TV! Do you, or more importantly does your child, view television as an entertainment or advertising device?
- Use incentives as appropriate.
Thoughts on Allowances from Financial Education and Financial Literacy
Innovator Sam X Renick
Candidly, I am very conflicted about allowances. Discussions on the topic almost torture me. Why? Simply, because I believe allowance is not the answer for everyone, however, it may be part of the solution for some. Intuitively I believe kids and adults learn more about money from earning it than being given it to spend and manage. Nonetheless, theories on allowance can be alluring. But, the reality for many just does not live up to the expectation. I can not find any studies or evidence, ZERO, that conclusively demonstrate allowance leads to better money management or that it even increases saving among children. Here is the rub. The fact no conclusive evidence exists supporting their effectiveness does not mean allowances have no educational benefit, particularly for parents who are able to consistently administer them.
When it comes to money, I believe in goals. I believe in dreams. I believe in plans. I believe in action based on planning. I believe in revised action based on experience. I believe in saving, values based spending, investing, and compound interest. I believe in a strong work and strong earning ethic. I also believe when it comes to financial education parents should have as many choices available to them as they do for hamburgers and that there is no one right answer for every child or parent. Ultimately, it seems to me allowances may be more about parents than children and whether or not a parent can define and maintain a consistent, rationale, disciplined approach to money with their kids.
So my advice regarding allowance is simple, if it works for you, do it! If not, move on. I suggest parents go to the library. Go to the bookstore. Go online. Talk to other parents, teachers and professionals. Do research. Write down the pros and cons of allowance and decide whether or not it will work for your family. Personally, I would read anything written by Janet Bodnar, not only she is an expert on kids and money, she is an outstanding writer.
Thoughts on Piggy Banks from Financial Education and Financial Literacy
Innovator Sam X Renick
I have never owned a piggy bank in my life. Personally, I prefer saving at banks and credit unions where my savings earns interest. However, I do like transparent bottles, jars, containers, and even ash trays for collecting coins and loose change prior to depositing them at a bank or credit union. This affinity probably stems from childhood when my own family used a gigantic bottle to collect pennies. I still fondly remember my father regularly having us guess how many pennies were in the jar and emptying the jar onto the floor and counting the pennies.
I also like the idea of personalizing and decorating saving containers particularly if a picture or a written statement of a goal is placed on the container. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with purchasing a piggy bank and there are many fine piggy banks on the market. Another option is to request a piggy bank at your bank or credit union. Often banks and credit unions give away piggy banks to customers.
Reading Recommendations from Author Sam X Renick
There are lots of great books on the market that will help both you and your children gain a better understanding of money and personal finance. Find one that speaks to you. Here are some of my favorites:
Books for Kids
- It’s a Habit, Sammy Rabbit!
- Sammy’s Big Dream!
- Tops and Bottoms, Janet Stevens
- Lucky the Golden Goose, John Wrenn
- Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, Judith Viorst
Books – General Adults
- How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler
- The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman
- The Excellent 11, Ron Clark
- The Color of Water, James McBride
- Happiness is a Serious Problem, Dennis Prager
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey
- The Purple Cow, Seth Godin
- Freakonomics, Stephen D. Levitt, Stephen Dubner
- Who Moved My Cheese, Spencer Johnson
- See You at the Top, Zig Ziglar
- Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Harvey Mackay
- Life Strategies, Dr. Phil McGraw
Books – Personal Finance
- Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth
- Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill
- Richest Man in Babylon, George Clason
- Yes You Can! Achieve Financial Independence, James Stowers
- Yes You Can! Raise Financially Aware Kids, Jack Jonathan
- Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki
- Dollars and Sense for Kids, Janet Bodnar
- The Money Diet, Ginger Applegarth
- Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth, Ric Edeleman
- The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley, William Danko
- The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach
- The Latino Journey to Financial Greatness, Louis Barajas
- The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, Suze Orman
- Credit Card Nation, Dr. Robert Manning
- The Ultimate Credit Handbook, Gerri Detweiler
- Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake, Liz Pulliam Weston
- You’re Broke Because You Want to Be, Larry Winget
- Financial Literacy for Teens, Chad Foster
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