My kids are young but we already talk quite a bit about money.
First they get to know why Daddy goes to work (to pay for everything)
And we talk about why we do certain things (like turning lights off, and not wasting water when brushing or hand washing, and so on)
Plus we let them spend some of their gift money, and give some to church, and save some...no particular amounts, just some for now. (they get LOTS of gift money!)
Most baby money plus money for the first year or two goes straight to saving (no offense to church but if you are going to chew it, you don't get to put it in the basket!) This means all three kids have way more than I do in saving!
We talk about the money in ING will grow (funny discussion long ago, when DS realized we ment more money, not a bigger quarter
.) and we talk about what the money there is for (future, big stuff, like car, or education, or house) And we talk about how we are not going to touch it for anything else. WE also talk about how Mommy and Daddy have an ING account, but we already have a car and a house, we have it in case of emergency, in case Daddy can't work.
We do not plan on an allowance (no one pays me to do dishes why would I pay you?) But we are discussing ways the kids can get money when they are older (anybody have any good ideas?)
We just now hit the phase where the two older ones realize they could buy some expensive things if they had last gift plus this gift (adults call that saving up for it). We are talking about ways to handle the desire (we want to encourage it, but we don't want it to go to ING) We are debating a 'bank of mom and pop' where they have a sort of bankbook to track up to a goal or something, but at the same time we are not sure we want an 80 dollar toy stove....
We also have a problem where my oldest wants to run up the water bill (I said we talk, I never said he agreed with us!) So we decided he will pay any amount that runs over the budget. (it is water, cheap around here, but still should have seen the look on his face!)