Pizza man at the door and empty wallet? A couple bucks short for the babysitter? Need five dollars for the field trip tomorrow? I will confess that, on occasion, I have raided my kids’ piggy banks to scrounge up cash. One kid keeps a running total of what I owe him/her, while the other child probably doesn’t even notice the money is missing (which I DO replace – honest! Usually within the same calendar year, but at the very least, within the same decade).

Realizing the guilt I feel when I dip into my kids’ stash of cash for a quick loan, I felt pains of empathy when I heard that close to 20 percent of parents have had to take money from savings for their children to pay the mortgage and other debts. According to a survey conducted by the online bank ING DIRECT, a growing number of parents must tap into savings aside for their children to pay the bills and one-third of parents have reduced the contributions they make to their children’s savings.

Not surprisingly, money has become an awkward topic of conversation in many households. Surveyed parents revealed that 39 percent were more prepared to talk to their children about drugs and alcohol than money and finances, and 27 percent were more prepared to talk to their children about the birds and bees or dating than money and finances.

While our kids’ college funds are safe from parental pilfering (sadly, enough damage has been inflicted by the stock market), this story pushes my button because it goes on to address the importance of financial education for children. In our house, doling out allowances (a great tool for teaching about money, if done correctly) is my responsibility. And, over the years, I’ve been neglectful and haphazard about keeping up with that responsibility.

Those roosters came home to roost last week when I spoke to one child about, now that s/he’s old enough, taking over a big chore that we’ve been hiring out to others and instead paying him/her for the job. Money-wise child thought about it for 10-seconds and said, “No thanks. I’ll pass. I know you’re not so good about paying me.”

Ouch!

I only have a few more years left with these guys to teach them Money 101. Any advice on how to facilitate their learning about the real financial world?

(And, BTW, money-wise child WILL be taking over that big chore, despite his/her valid concern about the reliability of the Bank of Mom and Dad.)