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Sesame Street characters pose under a 'Sesame Street' sign in New York City. Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Mid-day Update

Mid-day Extra: Teaching preschoolers about finance

Mary Dooe Nov 16, 2011
Sesame Street characters pose under a 'Sesame Street' sign in New York City. Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

A new program will soon be teaching preschoolers in the Chicago area all about business.

The Chicago Public Library is offering the classes starting in January for an 18 month program using grant money from the PNC Foundation.

Sure, kids have always learned about money by getting an allowance or a treat from the tooth fairy — but acutal classes? In today’s Mid-day Extra, we ask: how young should we start teaching our kids about money?

For answers, we went to Sally McCrady from the PNC Foundation. She is the manager for the company’s Grow Up Great program in early childhood education.

The program teaches basic concepts like deciding whether to spend the money you get from that tooth fairy, save it for a bigger present down the road, or share it with friends and family. But don’t worry, the program doesn’t get into the advanced stuff like insider trading, levers and the Greek debt crisis — yet.

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