AceShowbiz - Model-turned-actress Brooke Shields is ensuring her teenage daughters learn all about the value of the dollar after insisting they take on summer jobs.

The "Blue Lagoon" star and her screenwriter/producer husband Chris Henchy have given their two girls a privileged start in life, but Shields didn't want Rowan, 17, and Grier, 14, to take anything for granted, so she made them find holiday gigs so they could start earning a little for themselves.

"They got a pay cheque every week," Shields told Us Weekly. "This was their hard-earned money. And they realised how hard it was to get that cheque, that piece of paper."

The experience has given the girls "a larger understanding of what it means to work and provide", and it also allowed Shields the opportunity to teach them about money management.

"At first, they just handed (the cheques) to me and said, 'Well, can you put this somewhere?' And then it became, 'OK, let's show you how this works,' " she shared. "There are baby steps."

It's not the only lesson in finances the youngsters have received from the 55 year old - Shields has also been explaining the importance of life insurance to the pair for years, following the death of her mother, Teri Shields, in 2012.

"Obviously you don't want to be too heavy about it (death of loved ones), but it's a good launching-off place to talk about finances because little kids and even teenagers think that things just happen," she said.

And Shields is encouraging other parents to do the same this September - dubbed Life Insurance Awareness Month - as part of her role as a spokesperson for U.S. non-profit Life Happens, which aims to educate people about the need for life insurance.