Parents often have money questions, both big and small.

Last year, we held a KiasuParents Huddle webinar about teaching kids essential money lessons for life. You can watch a short clip on YouTube, or purchase the full recording.

One of our webinar panellists was Ernest Tan, and he's also been giving advice to our readers via the Ask Mr Money column. Ernest is the founder of Jopez Academy, the author of Raising Financially Savvy Kids, and a Certified Financial Planner with over three decades of experience. A father and grandfather, he loves teaching families about financial wellness, and he has conducted financial literacy workshops for students at Hwa Chong Institution.

Below, he reflects on a question that our children may have: Why is my food getting more expensive?

Read on for Ernest's thoughts.

Imagine that your child comes home one day and says, “Why is the food in the school canteen getting more expensive?” Or perhaps the next question comes quickly after that: “My allowance is not enough already. Can I have more?”

What would you say?

Many parents will move straight to the practical question. Should they increase the allowance, or should the child spend more carefully? But before deciding what to do, it helps to answer the first question properly: why does the food cost more in the first place?

Why Food Gets More Expensive

You could start with a simple explanation. Food prices do not usually rise for no reason. Sometimes ingredients cost more. Sometimes transport costs more. When stallholders have to pay more to prepare and sell food, they may need to charge more too.

This may already be enough for a younger child. It gives them something clear and concrete. Higher prices are not random, and they are not always happening because someone is being unreasonable. Costs have gone up somewhere along the way, and families feel the effects when they buy lunch or groceries.

Once your child understands that, the allowance question becomes easier to discuss. Does your child need a little more money, or do they need help thinking more carefully about how they spend it? The answer may differ from family to family, but the conversation is already on firmer ground because the child understands the situation more clearly.

What About the People Selling the Food?

Many parents may stop the discussion after a brief explanation, and this is understandable. But if your child is ready, you can take the conversation a step further. Ask what rising costs might mean for the people selling the food, not just for the people buying it.

This changes the angle. Some businesses may struggle when their costs go up. Others may adjust, raise prices, or cope better than expected. 

Your child does not need a polished answer. What matters is getting used to the idea that the same situation can affect different people in different ways.

How Global Events Connect to Daily Costs

From there, you can widen the picture. A rise in fuel costs, for example, can make transport more expensive. That can push up the cost of moving food and supplies around, which then feeds into higher prices more broadly. Even this is enough to help a child see that everyday spending is connected to larger economic changes.

For an older child or a more mature one, you can take the lesson much further. A secondary school student, for instance, may be ready to understand that global events can affect oil supply, which in turn affects transport, food, and other daily expenses. That is one way inflation enters ordinary family life.

If you are speaking to an older child about this, you may also want to extend the discussion to saving and investing, i.e. some families do not only spend money. They also put money aside and invest for longer-term goals, such as a child's education. In that case, bad news in the world can affect both daily expenses and the value of investments.

What History Tells Us About Markets in Uncertain Times

People do not always respond calmly when they hear unsettling news. Some panic. Some assume the worst. Some hold back from investing because they want to wait until things feel safer.

But history tells a more balanced story.

Across different global conflicts, investment markets often react in the short term, but the longer-term picture may look quite different:

Let me stress that this conversation is probably better suited to an older child. 

When thinking along the lines of investments, try to ask questions like “Who benefits when oil prices go up?”

Building a Habit of Thinking

Questions like "who benefits?" encourage a child to look at the situation from another angle. 

Instead of seeing only that things are getting more expensive, they begin to notice that the same event can create pressure in one place and opportunity in another. An energy company, for example, may benefit when oil prices rise, while other businesses may find it harder to cope.

Over time, you can help your child build this habit of thinking by asking whether something is likely to be temporary, who is affected, and how people are responding.

The Financial Lesson Most Parents Miss

When people do not understand what is happening, they are more likely to react emotionally, follow the crowd, or make poor decisions out of fear. This is worth helping a child to see early.

Many parents invest heavily in tuition, enrichment, and skills development. But very few teach children how money behaves in the real world. Yet this is one of the most important forms of education a child can receive, because one day they will face economic uncertainty, rising costs, and financial decisions on their own.

Turn These Lessons Into Action: 3-Night Financial Parenting Webinar

Not sure what to do the next time your child says, “Food is getting more expensive… can I have more allowance?” 

I know that many parents will have the instinct to respond, but not necessarily the words. You may know there is something worth explaining, yet still be unsure how much to say, how to make it age-appropriate, or how to turn a casual request into a useful conversation about money.

In our 3-night Financial Parenting Webinar, you'll learn how to:

• Turn everyday situations, such as more expensive school meals, into practical money lessons

• Explain ideas such as inflation and investing in ways your child can actually follow

• Guide conversations about spending, saving, and rising costs with more clarity and confidence

Join us and start teaching your children the financial skills that most adults never master. Reserve your spot today, and transform everyday questions into lifelong lessons on money.

This article is brought to you in partnership with Jopez Academy.