Teaching your kids about money may feel at times like a tall order. But it’s important.

Beth Kobliner, a personal finance writer, cites research in her new book, "Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not): A Parents’ Guide for Kids 3 to 23," that shows that parents are the biggest influence on a child’s financial behavior.

What’s more, she writes, is that the lessons kids are taught by age 7 can determine their money habits for life.

So what’s the best way to lead them to financial success? According to Kobliner, a mother of three, it’s teaching the concept of delayed gratification.

I think the number one thing [to teach] is waiting, she told Business Insider in a recent Facebook Live interview. "Saving up and waiting for something you want is really the key to money - if you’re able to delay gratification."

Kobliner says the best way to help kids develop this habit is to put away money for something they really want.

Instead of buying a snack every day after school, you take that dollar and put it into an account, or even put it into a jar in your living room, and save up that money and use it to buy a Lego set ... designer sneakers, whatever it is, she said. "That really helps kids get a concrete sense of what they need to do to save money in the long term."

Kobliner says you can practice this concept with your kid when they’re as young as 3. It doesn’t even have to be about money at first, she writes in her book - ease into it by talking about the time and patience it takes to wait for a birthday or holiday, or even for their turn on the swing set at the park.

Research shows that kids really understand the concepts of exchange and value, so I think ’waiting’ is really the key, she said.