Money-Smart Kids / Financial football

As a parent you probably have a difficult time determining the proper amount of "screen time" your children should be allowed to have.

If it were up to many of our children, they would spend the majority of their days just playing web-based games, video games or just surfing the Internet. We can probably all agree that permitting this would not be found in our parenting handbooks, which begs the question: how much and what types of screen time are appropriate.

I certainly don't profess to know the exact answer to that one. However, I do know that there are many educational websites out there that satisfy your child's desire for fun screen time and, simultaneously, the parents' desire for them to use their precious time on something educational.

And, as you knew I would, I have a soccer tie-in this month to celebrate the World Cup. With USA's dramatic last minute goal seen around the world, this might be a good opportunity to tie in to that media extravaganza with a few financial literacy lessons.

Recently, Visa came out with "Financial Football" -- soccer for those Americans reading my article -- at www.financialsoccer.com. Financial Soccer is a multiple-choice question game, which requires player to answer financial management questions to advance down the field and try to score goals. Finally, somewhere where I can be a goal-scoring machine!

Players can play alone or in teams. You chose the skill level (amateur, semi-professional or world-class) and even the time of play (this puts a limit on how much time your child will have in front of the game...when it's over, their time is up). You even get to choose your team.

While I'm partial to the U.S., I'm sure some of you will continue to root for your native England despite the U.S. topping them in the World Cup group play standings. (Yes, that was a dig to a few of my English friends out there.)

Once the teams head out of the locker room, the coin is tossed and onto the pitch the players go. If I really want to advance far down the field I can select the questions labeled hard. If I just want to make a short pass, I can choose easy. Questions at the world-class level could be:

"¢ Which of the following is one of the US's major credit bureaus?

Visa/Mastercard/AMEX/Equifax.

"¢ To participate in a credit rewards program you might be required to:

Pay an annual fee/keep high balances/have high credit worthiness/make frequent purchases.

If you got the above-mentioned questions correct, you are sure to hear the "USA, USA, USA" chant. And if your children develop financial literacy while enjoying the sport of soccer and screen time, isn't that a good use of time for them -- and you.

Tom Henske, a Westport resident and partner with Lenox Advisors, a wealth management firm with offices in New York City and Stamford, developed the Lenox Money-Smart Kids Program in conjunction with MassMutal Financial Group. He

can be reached at thenske@lenox

advisors.com