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A healthy financial management and saving money are few lessons often not stressed on during childhood as much they need to be. Some learn it watching their parents and some grow up without an intuition towards and end up poor in savings management.

It is surprising to see this important lesson isn’t a part of our school curriculum. But there are ways to help our next generation understand that a rupee saved is a rupee earnt. In this article, we will help you teach this valuable lesson to your young ones.

1. Get them a saving jar or piggy bank.

A piggy bank or a saving jar can be a great way to teach your kids about saving. Give them the objective to fill up the piggy bank and donate some from your own pocket as a reward to get them a toy or a bicycle they want. Similarly, make it a habit for them to maintain saving jars for different goals. Give them money and let them decide if they want to put all the money in a jar of a single goal or distribute it into jars of different goals. This helps them learn prioritization and smart investments at an early age.

2. Open a bank account

Once they are comfortable saving in jars and piggy banks, open up a savings account for them. Have them count how much they deposited and give them larger goals like motorbike or college fees. Make them count how much they have saved and how much they need time to time. Having a bank account is a great responsibility and it can provide them with the motivation to save and spend wisely.

3. Create a timeline

One way to keep money lessons ongoing is to create a timeline so that your child can visualize when they will reach their goal. Show them how much they need to save from their monthly allowance to reach the goal faster. For example, if they save a 100% of their allowance every month, they can reach a goal in weeks, and at what percentage saving will they reach the goal in the desired time. Keep reminding them how much they have to save in the upcoming months if they want to reach the goal early.

4. Lead by example

Children learn by example, so the best way to teach your child about saving money is to save money yourself. Have your own jar of money that you put funds in regularly. When you’re out shopping, show your children how to discern between various prices and explain why buying one item makes better sense than another. Teach your kids how you are saving for their college education or your next property or a holiday.

5. Start a conversation

This COVID Crisis has ruined many of our summer plans, but that doesn’t mean we have lost the opportunity to learn and try something new. We agree it is a sad state for kids and adolescents to keep them away from their joy in such a beautiful summer like this, but apart from binging Netflix or gaming online for 6 hours straight, this crisis can also be a wonderful opportunity to help your community.

Try new things, take responsibility, and earn some cash. In the article, we will suggest some ideas for you to earn the use of your free time to earn money so you can spend it all once we get through this.

1. Create DIY crafts and Sell

Many teenagers are making DIY projects which the society needs and appreciates and is selling them. These can be anything from a fancy phone holder to a dream catcher. All you require is a social media account to promote your products and E kart to deliver them.

There are many channels like Incredibles.com to help you improve your DIY skills and make more versatile things. It is up for you to decide if you want to make cheap DIY products or invest in woodcutters and lathes to make an expensive art. You can also choose to sell them online and ship them across the country.

2. Sell your old stuff.

When you are in need of money the quickest way to earn, it is by selling your old stuff on OLX or near home. You can start by selling your old textbooks and notebooks which are helpful to younger kids to selling your expensive videogames and toy cars on OLX or Facebook Marketplace.

3. Pet Sitting, Babysitting, and Housesitting

A lot of people are stranded in different cities than they live in and need someone to take care of their pets, plants, and in the case of working parents, kids. You can help them by looking after their needs in their absence in return for some money. Babysitting is a major way kid in western countries earn pocket money.

4. Home tuitions

Many schools have already opted for online classes and parents are worried about the virus to send their kids to tuitions outside the society. You can open a tuition class to help kids in their subjects which you are comfortable in to earn some regular cash.

5. Be your locality’s IT guy

We know, not being able to play with your friends is the worst, that doesn’t mean you cannot have fun with your family. This lockdown has brought you and your family in front of each other for more time than ever and frankly, we understand how that can sometimes be bad. It is up to you to decide if you want to spend the rest of the pandemic holiday driving each other crazy or by having fun. In this article, we will suggest you some of the board games you can play with your family and have a lot of fun.

1. Sequence

The sequence is a card-based strategy game that is very easy to learn and provides you so many outcomes that each game is going to be more fun than previously. The quality of this game lies in being more fun as you keep on playing it.

You can play the Sequence Game individually or in teams and is recommended for kids ages seven and up. Here’s how it works: Each player or team gets a hand of standard playing cards, and during each turn, they put down one card and cover the corresponding spot on the game board with a chip. The objective is to get five chips in a row, and each round usually takes 10 to 30 minutes.

2. Catan

Catan is a very fun game to interest children and parents and is complex enough to be the most played board game across B schools. This adventure game teaches you about probability and helps you gain an intuition in a fun way. Each game can get intense and action-packed that the rivalry may spill over to your daily life too

If you regularly have family game nights, you should definitely add Catan into your arsenal of party games. This adventure-based game is perfect for three or four players over the age of eight, who will all battle to collect resources and build settlements on the island of Catan.

The premise of the game is relatively straightforward, but there are a lot of rules and obstacles that make the game fun — players can trade resource cards, sabotage each other with the robber game piece, and more as they race to become the conqueror of Catan.

3. Busytown, Eye Found It

Want a game that’s just for the kids? Richard Scarry’s Busytown, Eye Found It is a highly rated kids board game, designed for children ages three and up. Using the six-foot game board, kids will work their way to Picnic Island, searching for hidden objects in an I-Spy style challenge.

You can have up to four players in each round of Eye Found It, which is designed to encourage collaboration between players. On each turn, kids will spin the spinner, which tells them to move a certain number of spaces or solve a “Goldbug Mystery.” When it’s time to tackle a mystery, all the players work together to search for certain objects on the game board — balloons, fire hydrants, etc. If they find five objects before time runs out, they can move five spaces. The goal is to make it all the way to Picnic Island, where a pair of hungry pigs are eating all the food.

4. Pandemic Board Game

Pandemic is not your regular board game. What makes it unique is the cooperative play. The cooperative play used to be a thing of online gaming where players formed teams to achieve a common goal. Pandemic helps you bond with your family and keeps the importance of measures and caution in your conscious in this crisis

In a cooperative board game, you all win or you all lose. In Pandemic, several life-threatening diseases are spreading across the world, and you must work as a team to find the cure. Each player is assigned a character, such as a scientist or operation specialist. Each player has unique strengths that they contribute to the group. During each turn, players can move around the world, share information, treat infections, and work towards a cure, but the epidemics spread just as quickly so you need to work efficiently. If you want an extra challenge, you can make the game harder by starting out with a greater number of diseases on the board.

5. Scrabble

Scrabble has been the number one board that improves spelling and vocabulary. This game can get very competitive with seasoned players. It also helps children in learning new words and how to spell them.

COVID Crisis has been hard on Families, particularly on kids. This crisis has left them anxious, sad, and shocked. Hearing about all the deaths at the adolescent age can have a long-lasting mental effect…

With no other choice, the schools have been forced to adopt online classes robbing them of the holistic experience you get in school. You need to understand they are going to have a hard time shifting to an online mode of schooling. Here are a few things you can do to help them adjust to the ‘new normal’.

1. Give them the facts:

Talk about all the positive news and facts about COVID. Do not let them watch the news for long. Affirm them that their immune system is good and if they wear a mask and follow social distancing, they will have no problem. Give them hope about vaccines.

2. Plan a structured time table:

Make them follow a similar to school routine at home. Have an hour for recreation and fun. Give them incentives to follow the time table and understand and forgive if they fail to adhere here and there. This will make them think of learning as a disciplined process just like school.

3. Make learning fun:

Keep in mind it is important to focus on the mental health of your children. Online classes can be monotonous and bore your kid. Try to keep their mood up. Motivate them to put the efforts needed for the school but keep in mind to give them enough breaks for them to refresh the mind. Watch a tv show with them or play a board game. Having a better mood while learning will help them achieve good results.

4. Keep them focused while learning:

Have each child create a personal goal that he or she would like to accomplish by the end of the school year — something they normally wouldn’t have time for, but now they do! Work on the goal daily/weekly. Use everyday occurrences as opportunities for learning — chances to teach valuable life skills. Take it outside! Work on homework or conduct classes on the front porch or in the backyard to get some fresh air. Completing math problems? Bust out that sidewalk chalk.

Finally, allowing yourself and your loved ones some extra flexibility as you move through the day is encouraged. After all, we are charting new territory.

How SkilBucks

The way we look at education has been constant for quite some time but now that is changing. People are now realizing the importance of valuable lessons which are often not found in the textbook, people are also realizing the power of practical knowledge at an early age. Billionaires and other successful people have one thing in common, they all started working on their dream from their teenage or younger. Sachin Tendulkar started cricket at 11 and Justin Bieber was singing from the age 12.

One of the most ignored life lessons among teenagers and school kids is financial education. Day in and day out we see people making financial blunders just because they have no habit of saving and investing money. Saving when taught at an early age can change the direction of one’s life

This is where SkilBucks come into the picture. It will help teens learn the courses and skills they want to learn with a monetary appreciation for their achievements.

Here’s how it works.

Tell us what you like to learn

Our smart app will recommend the best learning resources available in the market to you

Your parents approve and purchase the course

You complete the course and earn money in your SkilBucks wallet for your hard work

COVID has hit all of us hard but it has hit teens the most. With lockdown, you were imprisoned in your house and were prohibited from playing out, visiting camps, and enjoying this beautiful summer we are having. The worst part of it is it turned your savior — the laptop or desktop against you through e classes and online tuitions.

Learning is an important aspect of life; it is the effort you put today that will help you have a wonderful future ahead. With so much competition for everything make sure you don’t lose your edge because you are a fighter and a virus can’t stop you from being the best of the best. To help you make the best out of this situation, here are few tips to make your online experience less of a strain and more fun.

Get your set up to speed:

The only thing that can make this depressing scenario worse is a glitchy computer that lags or worse turns of for reasons beyond human understanding. Since we are going to be in this position for a while it is advisory to buy a brand-new laptop if your old one was manufactured when the dinosaurs got extinct. If not then clean up your disk. Remove unwanted programs. Buy an anti-virus, get a good internet connection, and an inverter that can support both modem and the desktop.

Take more interest than usual:

In online classes, the learning you get depends directly on how much you put into the class. Take initiative, communicate more with the instructor, ask feedback on a bad performance, and make efforts to improve your performance. By being professional with your interactions and reaching out with the intent of improving, your instructor will get a positive impression of you. You never know where this relationship will lead.

Manage Your Time:

Online Classes provide you with flexibility. You now have all the time you would lose commuting to school and back. You can study and learn on your own schedule- this has its own benefit such as the ability to work when you feel motivated. It also has its own disadvantages such as never feeling motivated at all. You need to know your behavior and prepare a schedule that compliments that to give you a comfortable learning environment. Create a schedule for taking care of classwork based on the time of day when you work best and stick to it. Since you know your optimal working schedule, you can base your assignments around it. Consult your syllabus, making note of important deadlines and due dates. Log into your course on a regular basis.

In the last decade, the ed-tech industry grew beyond our expectations benefitting students of all ages to learn more and better. The industry challenged the way we see education and helped thousands of people acquire skills on-demand.

The Who and Who of IVY league schools collaborated with websites to curate courses from theoretical physics to DIY arts and crafts. Companies like Coursera created an environment where learners can evaluate their knowledge on the course and form a community to help others learn.

In 2020 there are hundreds of companies offering thousands of courses. Not only that in each of the big sites like edX and Coursera there are 5–6 courses on a single topic offered for different types of learners. In such a chaotic market of online courses, how do you pick the right one? Well here are few things you need to keep in mind.

Know Your Needs

Ask a few questions to yourself.

Are you learning for work or curiosity?

How much time you can spend every day and how quickly you want to learn

What is the level of proficiency you are expecting from the course?

Skilbucks has an in house AI that helps you choose the course without all the hassle and gives you the learning you prefer.

List the courses:

Make a list of the courses across the websites which match your criteria. You can make the list based on the value of the certificate as it comes in handy when you are applying for a job or a position. You can also make the list based on the difficulty or reviews

Go digging:

Go through reviews. Learn what each of these courses offers and checks if the important topics are given enough time and how beneficial it is for learning applications. Based on your criteria narrow down to pick the best one

Start Learning:

You have done your research and made your decision. Now it’s up to you to make sure you complete your mission by utilizing the course to the fullest. If the course doesn’t feel right after the first few lessons or if the instructor is repetitive, now you don’t have to go through the process again as you already know which is the course which came second. Happy Learning!!

This pandemic has been tough on all of us, particularly on parents and adolescents. The COVID has robbed the children of their beautiful summer and has put them in front of parents for a longer time than usual. This often has resulted in cases of fights and misunderstandings between each other.

It is important to help your adolescent cope with the pandemic and the restrictions that come with it, because if there is one thing adolescents hate is being told not to do things they want to. In this article, we will help you create a better bond with your kid and come out of this stronger together.

Have a common consumption activity:

Watch a tv show together, have a dedicated time to watch movies every day, and show him movies you liked to watch in your childhood. By this, you will have gone through so many stories together and share all the surprise, fun, and wholesome moments these shows bring. This activity can also lead to many discussions and help you understand your child’s thought process better.

Share facts and answer their queries on COVID:

As the virus spreads there will be a lot of unnecessary updates and panic forwards, make sure you keep them away from it and share more positive news and facts with them.

Teach them household work:

Encourage them to involve in household work and reward them for helping you, some of the activities involve, teaching them how to cook their favorite dish, teaching them how to pick a good fruit or vegetable or how to wash clothes, etc. By doing this you will be preparing them for their future endeavors.

Keep track of their online activity:

Let’s face it, 2020 hasn’t been easy on any of us. We all have been imprisoned in our homes for too long with nothing to do. Thank god for our smartphones and play stations for being there for us and keeping us engaged in this trying time. But for some people who have a spark of doing something useful and productive, there aren’t many options due to the COVID Crisis. What if I tell you, you can play your Pubg and Fortnite and still be productive.

I am talking about building your own streaming channel. Gaming has become a language that kids across most countries understand. When we game online, we forget our differences and fight as one, that is why gaming channels occupy a large share among top YouTubers with streamers with a huge following like Ninja and PewDiePie to India’s Carryminati and Tanmay Bhat. In this article, we will help you get your own streaming channel and build an organic audience base so next time your family says “Gaming all day won’t earn you anything” you can show them it does.

Things to ponder over before you start.

1. On what device so you want to stream? Streaming can be done via a PC or Mac. If you’re starting from scratch and planning on buying a dedicated machine, you’ll find more versatile software available for Windows.

2. What kind of streamer do you want to be? Popular streamers have a webcam to show their excitement and expressions while they game, but this isn’t a must. Some might be comfortable staying out of sight.

3. Where do you want to stream? There are so many streaming platforms, Twitch and YouTube being the most popular ones.

4. Be prepared to put in a lot of effort. Streaming often is associated with a lot of glitches and abrupt stops. Getting good equipment can alleviate a lot of these headaches but it certainly won’t end them.

Gears you will need:

The equipment available in the market is of a wide variety. Some streamers use costly gears such as a green screen, a video controller, etc but we will discuss the basic equipment you need to start streaming.

1. Console:

You need a regular console and a capture card to capture the video and audio from the console and send it to the computer via USB. We most often play on an Xbox One X or a Nintendo Switch.

2. Audio:

Next up is a microphone. This is probably where you’ll have the most options. While not everyone wants to broadcast their face to the world, you should definitely have some kind of a mic to provide commentary, or else you’re just streaming uninterrupted, gameplay of a game some studio probably put thousands of hours of hard work into and giving away all of its secrets and wonders for free on the internet, and that’s just not cool

3. Webcam:

You want to get your face out there while you’re gaming, you’ll need a webcam. We use a Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920. There are countless webcams on Amazon, and as long as you can get one that can stream at least 1080p you should be fine, though ultimately the quality of the video you capture will fluctuate along with the price of the hardware you choose.

Streaming Set up:

You need an Open Broadcast Software or OBS. This software usually comes with your capture card. This will ensure a smooth stream and easy to change between channels and screens. Always make it a habit to check all your gears are plugged in before after you start up the software and before you go live.

At this point, you are pretty much good to go! But if you want to add extra pizzazz to your stream check out cool templates to dress up your stream from websites like StreamElements and StreamLabs.

Its time to go live!!

In the last two decades, there has been no skill more important than coding to make a secure living. During the IT boom in India people who barely knew how to code became part of the richest class through that skill. With every industry digitizing to leave out inefficiencies, having a basic understanding of computers and coding will make your job and life easier and help you become successful.

Till now coding was taught in institutions for undergrads who opted for the computer science or information technology stream. Today We will show you why coding is a skill that should be taught to teenagers.

1. Coding’s increasing importance

Every day more and more activities are depending on coding. For example, earlier it was easy to start a business but now have an app and website is necessary which involves developing and coding.

It helps kids develop problem-solving skills Coding in its essence is problem-solving at its finest. You break a complex problem into smaller pieces and solve each of them individually by failing and trying again. Teens can understand the mistakes and the patience it takes to solve a complex problem.

2. Coding increases creativity

Coding gives them a language to express themselves either it may be building their own app or coding an Arduino to make something. It gives them wings to their crazy ideas. Kids nowadays are tech-savvy from an early age. Their young minds come up with ideas that can simplify things, coding gives them the tool to do so. Imagine you are a kid in the 1980s since all the toys and environment mostly involved mechanical things you needed to learn how to use tools to build your ideas, similarly, kids today need coding.

3. Coding strengthens academic skills

Coding is known to improve concentration, focus and the vastness of the field will help kids get the intuition of tough concepts like algebra and trigonometry. The long process of debugging will teach them perseverance at an early age. It also helps them build confidence in their abilities as coding is often associated with smartness

So, how to find the best coding courses and encourage your children to learn coding on their own?