Teaching your children to be financially responsible may be the answer to ending whining demands for toys. Certified financial planner Tina Tehranchian says it's never too early to start teaching kids the value of money.

"Kids adopt the spending and saving patterns of their parents and the attitudes about money that their parents have, so it's really important to instill the right type of attitude in your child from a very, very early stage," she told Canada AM.

Of course, children have different maturity levels so there are no set ages about when kids can learn about saving and banking. Parents are the best judge of when their children can absorb different ideas.

Tehranchian says waiting until a child asks about money is one approach but she reminds parents that children learn about money and consumerism a lot sooner than we might think.

"Kids are consumers as soon as they can watch TV and look at magazine ads. They go to a store, they're a consumer," she says.

The most important lesson a child needs to learn about money is how to be a smart consumer. Children who are shown how to be responsible about money early on will be much more likely to stay in good financial shape down the road.

"You have to teach them how to identify needs versus wants, because that's what will cause impulse buying, which is a problem for so many adults," says Tehranchian.

A preschooler can be introduced to the basic concept of exchanging money for goods. Give your child pocket change to go buy chips from a vending machine, or a newspaper from a corner store. Explain that when you pay for something, the machine keeps the money, but you get the chips or newspaper.

An older school-age child can learn about finances through an allowance.

"I think an allowance is a great idea because it instills the idea of budgeting for kids. And it makes them set limits on their spending," says Tehranchian.

Deciding on an amount can be tricky but a good idea is to find out what your child's peers receive and then decide what your family can afford. Over time, even a modest allowance will get kids thinking about the value of money and how to make their dollars go further.

Then, once a child has an income of his or her own - as small as it is - they can learn the basics of financial planning, such as identifying a goal and implementing a plan that will help them achieve that goal. This will show the child that she can't always have what she wants right away; sometimes it takes time to save up the money we need.

"If a child wants a bicycle, let them set that goal and save for it," Tehranchian advises.

Make a chart for your child to help her see how long she has to save to get the money for the item. Find a picture that represents the item your child wishes to buy and paste it at the top of the chart. Draw boxes for the number of weeks she will have to save. So if the item costs $10 and she gets $2 allowance each week, you'll draw five boxes.

Then, staple an envelope to the chart. Each week when you give her the money, she'll put it into the envelope and mark off one of the boxes.

Another exercise for an older child could be asking your children to estimate how the family spends its income. Ask your child to list all the things he thinks you have to pay for. Then ask him for his estimate of how much each costs.

Now, go over the figures and fill in the gaps or correct the misperceptions. Wherever possible, show your child a bill to make the cost concrete.

This exercise is a good way to demonstrate just how little disposable income is left in the family coffers after expenses are met.