OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2016. Talk With Our Kids About Money Day (TWOKAM), enthusiastically supported by BMO, has achieved an important milestone. British Columbia and Newfoundland Labrador have joined the rest of the provinces to help young Canadians learn more about money and personal finances. Approximately 600,000 students across every province in Canada are participating in this national program.

Talk With Our Kids About Money Day was launched in 2013 in Toronto- and Montreal-area schools. Since then, the program has expanded to 4,000 schools across the country. In addition to the 'money talks' in classrooms and homes across Canada, Money Fairs and other special events are taking place today in Montreal QC, Richmond BC and Fredericton NB to celebrate 'Talk Day'.

"CFEE congratulates the large numbers of schools, teachers, parents and kids that are participating in the TWOKAM program across Canada," said Gary Rabbior, President of CFEE. "The program is making a real difference by getting teachers and parents engaged, letting them see that they are able to talk with their kids about money – and that they can make a difference in their kids' financial futures. Many are going beyond the one day and doing much more."

"We're thrilled to enter our fourth year with CFEE in a partnership that continues to deliver resources to parents and teachers so that they can creatively teach children about financial literacy," said Kelly Harper, Director, Customer and Employer Brand Learning Experience, BMO Financial Group. "We believe that fostering financial literacy is a responsibility financial institutions share with teachers and parents across Canada and at BMO, we're committed to providing these stakeholders with the tools and resources they need to ensure that money-savvy kids become money-savvy adults."

The TWOKAM program encourages parents and teachers to have conversations with youth about money and personal finances. Parents and teachers can visit www.talkwithourkidsaboutmoney.com for access to free and easy-to-use activity plans and lesson plans.

Highlights of the TWOKAM School Program:

For teachers, easy-to-use, complete lesson plans that are cross-curricular and make it easy for teachers to integrate money topics into a broad range of subject areas including social studies, math, science, environmental studies, music and art. (The plans are developed for grade 7 teachers, but any teacher of any subject at any grade is encouraged to participate). In addition, the program offers:

  • Group discussion and debate ideas
  • Resources and interactive tools for teachers
  • Links to other resources and programs
  • Links to background material on financial literacy and research results

Highlights of the TWOKAM Parent Program:

Free online access to fun and engaging activities that are easy to do and comfortably set up opportunities for parents to have a talk about money with their children, provoke their curiosity and stimulate questions that lead to learning, resources are organized by child's age range, for example age 5-7, 6-9, and so on, up to the "Transition Years" when youth are moving out on their own. The program also provides:

  • A wide variety of activities including movies to watch, books to read, songs to listen to, crafts to make, local trips to take, and more
  • Helpful links and resources for parents, including a variety of articles offering different views on allowances

About CFEE

CFEE is a federally chartered, non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1974, that works to improve economic and financial literacy and enterprising capability. CFEE works collaboratively with ministries and departments of education along with school boards, schools, educators, and teacher associations. CFEE also engages in activities to support and assist newcomers and past immigrants to Canada, and the general public including print resources, videos, workshops, and online resources. Overall, CFEE aspires to help Canadians of all ages be better prepared to undertake their economic roles, responsibilities, and decisions with confidence and competence.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America. With total assets of \\$699 billion as of January 31, 2016, and close to 47,000 employees, BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.