Growing up my parents taught me nothing! When I was older, my dad would tell me to pay every bill that came in the mail, asap. He was pretty responsible with his cc's. My mom racke dup the bills & dad paid them off!
As my daughters were growing up I taught them everything I never learned. But they do have a mind of their own. Even as teenagers. My eldest was always saving the hundred dollar bills my parents gave her for all occassions. She is married now & has the same mentality. Save & pay your bills on time. She actually took her hubby's cc's away from him & made him pay them off! Now my youngest is just the opposite. Doesn't really care about any of that. If her car still goes, that's good. But then she always had my parents or my hubby's mom to give her money when she needed. Not sure if that contributed to her crazy ways? They are totally the opposite when it comes to finances. She does ask me about credit, etc. But she never really tries to do the right thing & stay on track. Like they say, you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. 
You can always teach your children even with little resources you have. I remember my dad bought my sister and me plastic cheap piggy banks that was $1 each and I saved pennies to $20 bills into the thing. He also took us to the library to let us borrow books and keep track of return dates so we wouldn't be charged with late fees. Then he took me to the bank to open my first checking account. After that, he sorta let us do our own thing. I got my first credit card in college but didn't really use it. My parents divorced when I was young and my mother doesn't know much about credit, but she does know about being conservative with spending. I learned a bit from both of them. But the most I have learned how to manage was from my mistakes and from reading finance articles online.
Kids have the notion that money is taken from the ATM machine but don't realise it's money earned through hard work, so my parents told me that early on, lol. When I was in middle school, I spent a lot of money because there was a CVS within walking distance and I liked buying toys. From late high school to college years, I didn't really have an interest in puchasing anything so I was able to save a lot of money.
I think it's good that you want to teach your children about finances. I think that sometimes being honest with children about finances can be the best lessons. I think if you let your children see how hard work=paycheck..paycheck translates into bank deposit that provides for utilities, mortgage/rent/, insurance, car note, groceries, etc. Although you may not be able to provide them with an allowance, this life lesson in finances can be priceless. I started early with my children and each child has either learned through early experiences, or wreckless abandon as a young adult and learning through life. I showed them the value of credit and also pointed out how quickly one could ruin their lives for a while. I watched first hand while in the military how those not experienced with credit would lose their careers due to bad credit and not paying "just debts" as the military termed it. Bad credit made you a security threat and caused many to lose their security classifications. Sometimes careers were lost not because of the service member but because of their spouses who just couldn't refrain from spending.
As for how we deal with credit with our child..here goes.
My youngest is my "giver" and I'm afraid for her as she wants to donate to "EVERYTHING" that pulls at her heart strings. We received a piggy bank from our bank when setting up her savings account. It's divided into several different categories (spending, savings, donations, tithes, emergency fund). We have taught her to always pay herself second after her tithes. She places ten percent of her allowance and cash gifts into her tithes. She then places thirty percent into savings, thirty percent into into emergency fund, ten percent into donations and twenty percent into spending. We tell her that as a child that she must maintain at least fifty percent of her spending at all times, as she never knows when she's going to come across something that she absolutely can not live without. We make her do the math for her piggy bank "DONATIONS" lol We also let her deposit all the loose change that is left over from my wife and I at the end of the week (a kid can get have a nice bank deposit on this alone!). We take her to the bank so that she can make her own deposits, and she is required to maintain a bank book. Her older brother worked at the commissary as a bagger for tips and he definitely was able to maintain a very comfortable living as a teenager along with his other enterprises (selling mixed music cds, parties and his own taxi service for his friends) while in high school. He's a "cash kid". He will always have large amount of cashes stored all over, as you might guess he's my "prepper kid" lol
I think your children are at the age they can handle the "hard knocks life of personal finances". Kids these days are tech saavy and have access to many learning tools with the right guidance. I think a few supervised trips to the rebuilding section of myFICO can be an eye opener. A basic savings account with an allowance of $15 and $10 every two weeks can be worth its weight in gold. I know $50/month may be a lot between two children but you can always reduce that amount and give them chores that make them earn every penny.
I think teaching your children about money is one of the most valuable lessons you can give your children. GL.
My mother showed me what to not do with finances. She was (and still is) always behind in bills and owing debts. She lived rent-free with my grandfather in a duplex. She was originally supposed to pay bills, but she'd say she needed the money for bills and he eventually stopped asking. He enabled her lifestyle. She had payday loans and routinely wrote rubber checks. She was always asking him for money. When I was 12, she got married to my stepfather. He lost his house that he owned since 1998 in 2013, and he had to file bankruptcy. Part (or most) of the reason was her inability to manage her finances. She dug my sister into debt as well. When my grandfather past in 2011, she took his insurance money that she was supposed to split 3 ways on her van that was behind and was still repo-ed. The lights and gas got cut off in October 2011, when my son was 2 months old. We had to stay with her until Dec. 2011. She moved back to the house in 2013 when their house went through foreclosure. Now the house we live in (that my grandfather bought in 1977) is undergoing foreclosure and she's finally realizing that no one is going to bail her out.
Before my sister was born, she had two jobs, no rent, not too many bills, and two jobs. So she got used to spending how she wanted. That mentality hasn't changed since. Her favorite motto is "I don't work to pay bills." She upsets me so much as she makes more than enough to cover her bills, but she spends it on things she doesn't need. For example, we were give a chance to start a payment plan for the back taxes. They wanted around 8600 as a deposit. Every adult in the house just had to put in less than 2k. Her UVerse (with unlimited phone that she doesn't use and the u450 with all premiums) was shut off (which was in my stepfather's name) with a 1k balance owed. Instead of taking that money and putting it aside to save it for the house, she proceeds to have the uverse cut on in her name. That's just one story. I have many and they make no logical sense.
I had been looking for a job since I was 16. I didn't have to pay rent as I was in school and my grandfather knew that. He had actually loaned me money for books and tuition payments. I was attending a private school dedicated solely to engineering. Even after scholarships, financial aid and additional grants, I still owed about 2k term though they allowed payments. When he passed, I left that school and started paying them from odd jobs like babysitting, fixing computers for friends and family, selling my school books, etc. However, when I had my son, I was at a technical college just to get a degree I could use. I began receiving TANF in October 2011 and used that to pay the bills I needed to pay, buy him clothes, etc. I got my first job in October 2012 and have been working ever since. I've rarely had a late payment (though if I did I alerted them prior to the due date and paid within a few days when I got my paycheck). My services have never been shut off. I try to keep the bare minimum bills. I have a cell phone, lights and gas, student loans (including balances owed directly to the school), transportation, life insurance, child care, and select few credit card bills. I make sure to pay $30 to a savings every week. I also allow myself $60 in extra spending money a month. I don't carry cash as I'll more easily spend it than I will use my debit or a credit card. Cash for me has always been available money (as I was shown by my grandfather) and the money in your bank account was bills. Thus, I have a separate bank account with a debit card that I can use. I'm always aware that I have a limited amount in there. Now, I'm 23 years old. I have 2 (formerly 3) part time jobs. So I work the majority of the time. I don't like it, but until I can finish my degree (I put school on hold for work), I have to have a way to take care of my son and I, especially since we're about to have to move due to the foreclosure.
Ultimately, my grandfather was the one who taught me about finances. Every month after his pension and social security was deposited into his account, he would go to the bank, take out the exact amounts for his bills and $500 spending money. Then he would take his bills and go in person to pay them. The ones he couldn't pay in person, he wouldn't take the money out, but would just send a check. When he got sick in 2008, 2009, I began to handle his finances. I set everything up online as I couldn't drive and as I was still in high school, was unable to go in person during business hours. I made sure every bill got paid as they came in and he never had a late payment. He still went once a month to take out spending money for groceries and miscellaneous expenses. I've made the vow to never make the same expenses as my mother. I spend what I have available or will have available. For example, I want to go to my family reunion in Orlando, but the total with bus, flight, hotel, and registration, it would be a little over 1200. This doesn't include if I want to go to Universal Studios or DisneyWorld or my transportation once there. I don't want to spend it though. I can put it on credit cards that have 0% apr and have it paid off before it accrues any interest, but I don't want to spend that amount when I can save it. I want to buy a car and even have financing, but I don't know if the extra money out my budget for the car note, insurance, and gas would even be worth it. I have a transportation budget for a monthly bus pass and for a cab should I get off too late (after 10pm) and still have to pick my son up from daycare. So that would be easily transferred, but it would surpass it as well. So I don't think I'm going to do it.
I plan on teaching my son but example and talking with him. He has a little piggy bank that he puts change in. I have a container I put all my change in. When I need petty cash, that's what I use. I have about $20 in there. All his child support money goes into a savings account and I show him each month. Any gift money over $5, I transfer from my account and take the cash to deposit. He understands that he can't have everything he sees. I do buy him things (probably more than he needs), but he understands that I only have so much money and that I need to work to make the money. So he likes to tell me that he needs to go to work with me. He's only 3 so hopefully he keeps that mentality.
Sorry about the long post (and semi-rant).
