Are You Good with Money? Your Children will be Too
Parents have a big responsibility to set a good example for their children in every aspect of life. All children imitate what and who they see. Because they spend more time with their parents than anyone else that is who they will imitate the most. This includes imitating their parents spending habits.
If parents have a cavalier attitude toward spending money a child will adopt the same attitude. Children are smart and they will quickly realize it if their parents are spending frivolously every time they go to the store but at the end of the month are stressed because they cannot pay the household bills. This is not a good example.
Money problems are at the root of many marital conflicts and this has a huge impact on children. It is important for parents to use their money wisely so as not to put a strain on their marriage and on their family.
Because parents are individuals too they may have different approaches to spending money because of the differences in their families as they were growing up. They need to reconcile these differences so that the children do not see a conflict.
Learning to save takes time even for parents. We didn’t all grow up with money-savvy parents. But now it’s time to break the cycle of overspending and debt. Parents can take a money management class or read a book on the subject. As they learn, so will the children. The information can be shared at family meetings.
Do not exclude your children from all discussions about the family’s finances. Of course there may be times when parents have to discuss financial matters privately. But when creating a budget or discussing needed adjustments to the budget include the children so that they can see that you have a plan and you are working to follow it.
It is sometimes easy to see what type of financial history a person had by looking at their spending habits. Some kids who grew up with parents who survived the depression watched their parents hold on tight to every dollar and never want to spend a dime on anything. They hated that so now they are big spenders and never save a dime.
This carried over into my adult life and created problems when I got married and started a family. My parents didn’t do anything wrong, there just could have been a few more right things done. We never talked about money. It was a grown-up thing and children weren’t included. I went with what I perceived to be the truth when it came to money.