Let me set the stage for you... I was taking my four children to a movie. We love going to the movies, but this can be expensive when you're a family of six. So, we try to go on Tuesday when the theater has $5 movies along with free popcorn for movie reward members and $2 candy (selected varieties, of course).

I purchased five tickets and then took them to concessions to get some snacks. I got four free bags of popcorn and told each kid to pick out a candy but it had to be one of the $2 candies. Let's just say my 11-year-old daughter, Joselyn, was not happy. She turned to me and said "Mom, why are you so cheap?!"

At first I was a little speechless, I wasn't sure what to say to her. Then, I calmly turned to her and said "Mommy isn't cheap, she's frugal." Instead of dragging her out of the theater because I was mad, I decided to make this a teachable moment. We were plenty early for the movie and there weren't a lot of other people around.

I thought it was important for me to talk to her about earning and spending and to say that we can't have everything we want in life. And if I didn't set a budget for this trip to the movies we may not have enough money to get other things we may want or need for that month.

I will be completely honest with you, I am glad my children don't have to worry about money issues like I did growing up, but I also don't like the fact that they take things for granted either. Their dad and I work hard to provide a nice lifestyle for our kids but we also want them to understand the importance of hard work and managing money.

For more information , check out NDSU Extension's Talking to Children about Money Publication.