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What children can teach us about money...

March 11th, 2008 at 03:13 pm

Sigh...I was an impulsive buyer as a single, childless woman. I can remember my first job making $5.15 an hour. On what did I spend all of that money? It's shocking to think that between the ages of 16 and 28 the thousands of dollars spent upon absolutely nothing. New DVD, sure! Ooohhh, those shoes are cute! Buy them! The feeling I had then, the money I had to burn (it felt like fire in my wallet), absolute craziness. I was just a child, too naive to understand the consequences of spending and too caught up in a culture of consumerism handed down to me through TV ads, my peers and even my parents.

The other day while grocery shopping for a few items after work, my son saw "101 Dalmations" sitting on a conveniently placed cardboard ad next to the check-out. "Mommy, I want 101." Thus the crying, arguing, jelly-fishing (where the child apparently loses all control of his/her muscles) commenced. I sighed. I resolved to continue to say "no." I fought the urge to say, "It's all right. He'll watch it 500 times and it'll be well worth the money." I endured the agony of the almighty tantrum. We exited the store and we lived. In fact, here we are alive a week later.

My husband shared with me that our son has noticed billboard ads posted all over town advertising the wonderment of that movie. It has occurred to me, since then, how easily the buck of consumerism is passed down to our children. Even PBS now is sponsored by Chuck E. Cheese. Is this a losing battle trying to pry my son's tiny fingers away from the clucthes of the financial distress in which I now find myself?

It's interesting because it became abundantly clear to me when I had my son that I had to work harder to rectify my bad spending habits and mismanagement of money if I were to be successful in taking care of him. Hello! He depends upon me for food, clothing, care, things that I cannot neglect providing for him (whereas when I was a singleton, I could just eat grilled cheese for a week). I have learned from having my beautiful boy that I must budget, track spending, save, payoff debt if I want us as a family to live comfortably, happily and safely. It is also extremely apparent to me that I must break the chain of reckless spending if I want my son to save the day when he acquires his first job rather than spend it all in reckless abandonment.

Many things have been learned through having my child, that much is true. It's quite sad to think that it took having a child for me to learn the importance of money management and financial planning. Having children is very expensive, but through the lessons I've learned through him about money, I may actually acquire more money in the long run.

1 Responses to “What children can teach us about money...”

  1. mom-sense Says:
    1205249367


    Start while they are young! Teaching them the value o the dollar, that is. When my first two were young (two girls almost a year apart) my MIL spent $ on dresses that cost $200 a piece (I kid you not) Now that it is ten years and three more kids later, my MIL now says "Look at that cute outfit that I got for them ... $35 for both pieces, and from Walmart!)

    Now with the kids, its another story. We just went through their clothes for spring/summer. DD#1 had a growth spurt and needs the basics, DD#2 got some of the hand-me-downs and she didn't grow a lot so she's OK. DD#1 said, "Can we go to Justice and go shopping?" I had to laugh and explain I was heading to Once Upon a Child and Target. I then had to remind her that she goes to a Catholic school which costs tuition, and she is an Irish dancer which costs a whole lot of money. And we are going on vacation to Disney that we saved for two years for. She then smiled and said, "Ok, Mom, I got it. We spend money on experiences." Sweet girl.

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