Kids and the economy

I do not truly know how much my kids know about what is going on in the economy, nor do I fully know how much they understand about our personal finances. But I recently read an article online from Mary Hunt talking about kids and the economy. She had some rather good points in it.

The following was my favorite part, that lightbulb moment if you will:

"Rather than telling your kids, “We can’t afford that,” say, “We don’t choose to spend our money in that way.” Now you have delivered a positive message that you have money but you make intelligent choices about how to spend it. That makes kids feel safe. It tells them that their parents are protecting them. When you say “We cannot afford this or that or to go here or there,” kids hear, “We are poor. If we weren’t so poor we could have this or that and go here or there.” They quickly assume that money is the key to happiness. If we just had enough money we could be perfectly happy."


I grew up with "We can't afford that" and that is what I tend to tell my own kids when they ask for that pack of chewing gum. I never had a good response as to why we couldn't afford the chewing gum but could afford the bag of chocolates. KWIM? I have also observed that the kids are becoming more interested in having money, and that if they had MORE money they'd be better off than they are now. That thought process I've been seeing has been disturbing me, and I think we finally have a good idea of what to change in ourselves to change their outlooks on money.

I hope at least.

Because, really, personal finances are all about choices and I want the kids to know we're making choices not reacting to what we do or do not have in our bank account. What we choose to spend our money on, what we choose to not spend our money on. Whether the times of choosing are lean or flush times. I want them to start realizing that they too are making choices on what they spend money on, and I want them to hopefully make intelligent choices (well, at least think their choices through). So, if you see this Momma mumbling to her kids while grocery shopping, just pass on by when you hear "I am choosing to purchase this box of generic cheerios instead of the brand name one because that means we can also buy that bag of chocolate...."

;)