I was chatting with a teacher friend the other day who works at a nearby school. She was telling me about some of the children that come to school without any lunch. There reasoning is that their parents can’t afford to buy them any lunch. However many of these same parents and children can afford a packet of cigarettes or a mobile phone.
You see we teach our children about many things by our actions, and in buying cigarettes over a loaf of bread is simply screwed up priorities. And unfortunately our children learn from us that luxuries are more important than necessities.
Now my wife was telling me about one of the kids she has met at college. Now this boy comes from a very well off family, who goes on regular holidays & who’s parents have bought him a car. Now this is the other extreme. This boy is not being taught about money, as he is having everything handed to him on a silver platter.
To teach our children about money, we need to teach them in the first case, priorities and in the second case, moderation.
Being able to afford luxuries is a great thing, but we also need to drum into our children, just what is a luxury & what is a necessity. Help them to understand the difference between needs and wants.
I have tried to cover may of these issues in my book, “What They Don’t Get Taught At School! – A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Children About Money.” It is becoming more and more important every day that we help our children’s attitude towards money, and teach them to have a Healthy Financial Mindset.
