Almost everybody in the world who has access to the internet has heard of Bitcoin, even small children. However, hearing about it and actually knowing what it is are two different things.
Cryptocurrency is a complicated matter, which some adults can’t even comprehend, much less kids. But it’s not an impossible thing to learn even for non-techie people. You can teach children about Bitcoins in a way that is easy for their inquisitive brains to understand.
But before you start throwing big words like cryptocurrency and open source at them, go for simpler examples.
Five-year-olds may have just been starting to understand the concept of money, and so anything more complicated than the concept of a dollar in exchange of an apple may be too much for their little minds to wrap around. And so if you use big words that even adults need to read up to learn, they won’t pay attention. The key here is to explain to them in terms and analogies that they are familiar with, even if it’s just crayons and apples.
But is it really important to teach young children about Bitcoins today? After all, some people claim that it is just a trend and it will devalue in the near future anyway.
Kids also are not likely to earn Bitcoins any time soon.
If your children have any access to the internet, even if it’s just their strictly monitored tablets, they might have already been curious as to what Bitcoins are all about because those things are all over the web. But even in the rare instance that they have not heard about Bitcoins, it’s never too early—or too late—to teach them about this new type of money.
Even if the predictions that Bitcoins will not last long because of their instability in the currency exchange are true, they are just one example of the new type of currency that might take over the world. If not Bitcoin, then something else could replace it immediately because we are moving onto a future where everything is digital. Then you would still need to explain to your children what digital money means.
There are online games and apps made for kids that use virtual currencies—not just Bitcoins—to encourage little kids to learn more and value money at early ages. Giving them the basics of how a Bitcoin works will be beneficial for them even if they are still counting with their fingers.
You are not going to give them the big talk on cyberspace and the World Wide Web. You are just going to teach them about money and virtual money. And if they are curious to learn more, then teach them more. But for now, you can teach them the very basics of how virtual monies like Bitcoins work.
To help you with the task of explaining Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies to your young kids, Mike’s Gear Reviews has come up with an infographic that explains simply how they work.
