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Camp’s Present Shop “goes to a place that is increasingly happening in this world, which is trying to get access to kids younger and younger, develop habits, patterns, disconnect them from parental or adult oversight,” said Nathan Dungan, vice chairman of Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, an advocacy group.

“Who is interested in shaping your child’s attitudes around money?” That is the first question posed by this week’s Mom Enough children and money guest, Nathan Dungan, financial advisor and founder of Share Save Spend. The answer to that question – and examples of how our culture lures our kids to spend, spend, spend – should make us all sit up and take notice

The danger with these purchases is that money turns magical,” said Nathan Dungan, founder and president of financial-education firm Share Save Spend. “Children’s brains can’t process these virtual transactions because it’s not tangible to them.”

This is where Nathan Dungan, a wealth educator and founder of Share Save Spend, a financial consulting firm in Minneapolis, is trying to take a smarter approach to any conversation around prenuptial agreements. He wants to require both partners to attend what could be called Prenup 101. It is far from something couples can take casually. Mr. Dungan has developed work sheets and quizzes to complement extensive counseling that lasts at least six months, though ideally closer to a year. He calls the whole process “onboarding” — a far more welcoming description than “divorce planning.”

“From your basic budgeting apps to a things a little more complex where you can tie it to your goals and your values to investment objectives, so there’s a pretty broad spectrum,” said founder of Spend, Share, Save Nathan Dungan.

The title of Nathan Dungan’s first book gives you a good idea of what his work with family businesses is about.

Written in 2003, Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Become Your Child’s ATM, discusses why so many of our children have distorted relationships with money. It’s an issue many business owners wrestle with as they accumulate wealth and consider succession.

Use teachable moments like paying bills online, saving for college and going shopping to help eliminate the idea that money is magical, says Dungan. By the teen years, parents should be transferring an increasing amount of financial responsibility to their kids, while also expecting an equal amount of accountability for their choices, like paying for sports equipment or school clothes, saving up for bigger ticket items like a car or college, or sharing money with a local nonprofit.

Nathan Dungan started his career as a financial planner...In 2003 he founded Share Save Spend, whose mission is to help youths and adults achieve financial sanity with healthy money habits, linking their money to sharing, saving and spending decisions. After writing several books on the subject, such as “Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to be Your Child’s ATM,” he developed an online tool — Money Sanity U® — to reach a bigger audience of profligate spenders.

There are many books about teaching kids about money, but I question that a book is the most effective tool. I prefer many of the experiential Share Save Spend tools by Minneapolis financial educator and author Nathan Dungan.

Some parents would rather speak to their children about practically anything other than money. But such reluctance carries a high price. While there are many legitimate ways to discuss finances with youngsters, financial experts say, two things are for sure: Start early and talk often. The Wall Street Journal invited three people to join in an email discussion of the issue. They are Annamaria Lusardi, the Denit Trust chair of economics and accountancy at the George Washington University School of Business; Ted Beck, president and chief executive of the National Endowment for Financial Education; and Nathan Dungan, founder and president of Share Save Spend LLC, which helps educate families about money.

The other main character is Nathan Dungan, who runs a financial consulting and education firm called Share Save Spend for families and others who want to get smarter about money conversations. I’ve met them both over the years and model some of my own parenting after the way they raise their own children.

It's the season of plenty for many wealthy families. Nathan Dungan, founder of Share Save Spend, explains how we can instill gratitude in our children.

Let kids in on marketing secrets. Young children like to be let in on adult secrets. Diffuse the power of ads this holiday season by pointing out the marketing tactics companies use to sell their products, said Nathan Dungan, founder of Share Save Spend, which educates families about money. Ask your kids to find you examples on the TV and in newspapers as well.

“The fall, and in particular around Thanksgiving, is often a common time for family meetings—particularly those who only hold one meeting a year,” says Nathan Dungan, owner of Share Save Spend, which helps educate families about money. Mr. Dungan suggests creating an agenda, preferably with broad family input, before the meeting. “When people feel they have a voice in the process, they are more likely to be invested in the outcome,” says Mr. Dungan in Minneapolis.

Many families teach philanthropic values by giving each child a “share check”—a check with everything filled in but the recipient. “Any dollar amount works,” says Nathan Dungan, Founder and President of Share Save Spend®. This organization helps youth and adults link their money decisions to their values and provides resources like Money Sanity U®®, a subscription-based virtual video library designed to proactively address the topic of money and the role it plays in people’s lives.

Life has been funded by parents who are really shortchanging their kids fiscally, teaching them that “somehow money issues like bill paying, budgeting and living within your means will magically get resolved without ever working at it,” says money expert Nathan Dungan. Most are clueless. “After graduating is not an optimal time to do a crash course on budgets and living within your means,” adds Dungan, of Sharesavespend.com.

When kids are as young as 6, parents and advisers can start by helping them identify bills and coins and understand the purpose of money, said Nathan Dungan, president of Minneapolis-based Share Save Spend, LLC, which helps people link financial decisions to their values.When kids are a few years older, parents should help them understand utility bills and set savings goals. Parents can help kids understand where the family's money comes from by researching genealogy and talking to older generations. If there is a family business, get the kids involved.

Getting children involved in philanthropy from an early age helps set the stage for foundation service later on, says Nathan Dungan, a wealth counselor and owner of Share Save Spend in Minneapolis.

In fact, while children see upwards of 5,000 advertising impressions – such as television commercials, billboards, and pop-up ads — per year, 25 to 30 percent are shown during the holiday season, according to Nathan Dungan, founder and president of the educational consulting company Share Save Spend. “Being mindful of those messages and really helping kids manage expectations, is so important. Otherwise, the narrative in their heads gets warped because all they see are messages of more, more, more,” Dungan tells Yahoo Parenting. “And getting 25 gifts for, say, a 5-year-old is too much. Gifts cease to have meaning after 5 or 10. Kids are just ripping stuff open and they can’t remember who gave what, why they’re getting presents, and often end up exhausted and having a meltdown.”

If you feel guilty about working so much, plan a time to take your child to the park or cook a meal together instead of giving into the impulse to buy a new toy. "Buying them a gift won't make up for lost time and have a lasting impact on their happiness," says Nathan Dungan, owner of Share Save Spend in Minneapolis.

"Families need to take their time to shape their attitudes toward wealth," said Nathan Dungan, who runs the family wealth consultancy Share Save Spend. "It needs to go beyond maximizing returns and reducing taxes."