Real savings accounts pay close to nothing — 0.01% APY is the standard, and a year of that on a $50 balance is one penny. The lesson never lands on numbers like that.

Most parents who actually teach kids about compound interest pay it themselves, at a rate that shows up. A common starting point is 0.5% to 1% per week (compounded), which lets a kid feel the difference between saving and spending within a month or two. You can adjust the rate higher or lower above — whatever fits the budget you can actually keep.

The dollar amount is paper math until you settle up. Some families pay it out in cash when the kid wants to spend. Others hand over the running balance at the end of each year. There’s no wrong way as long as you’re consistent.

We wrote about how to teach kids compound interest without a bank account if you want the longer version, and the how-much-by-age guide covers the rule-of-thumb numbers.