{"id":163215,"date":"2013-05-27T04:00:18","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=163215"},"modified":"2018-11-20T21:41:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T05:41:11","slug":"the-first-step-to-teaching-our-kids-about-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/the-first-step-to-teaching-our-kids-about-money\/","title":{"rendered":"The first step to teaching our kids about money"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the time you read this, my husband and I should be in the middle of hanging out on a different continent for eight weeks — with\u00a0our kids<\/a>. Allow me to digress for a few sentences before I get to the point of this article.<\/p>\n

We started the adoption process two years ago. In October, 2012, we were matched with our children, and the weeks and months since then have been filled with waiting, paperwork updates, and more waiting. Finally, in mid-April (I am writing this 11 days before we’re scheduled to leave), we will meet our kids for the first time. I don’t know how other new parents feel, but it’s surreal to me. We’re so excited (and scared)! Okay, back to the article\u2026<\/p>\n

What we want for our kids<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the months of waiting, we’ve discussed many different aspects of parenting. Of course, only one of those aspects has a place on this blog and that is,\u00a0how<\/a> (and\u00a0why<\/a>) we will teach our kids about money?<\/p>\n

Since our kids are in elementary school, they should easily understand financial concepts. However, despite being able to understand concepts, teaching them anything feels daunting, but we do have some aspirations.<\/p>\n

We want them to be careful with money, but not so careful that they aren’t generous to others. We hope they learn that money buys choices, but it doesn’t buy happiness (or,\u00a0does it?<\/a>). We want to teach them to save for the future, but not to forget the present. And above everything else, people are more important than money.<\/p>\n

You’re probably thinking, “Hey, Lisa, you little idealist, you. That all sounds good, it really does. But how do you\u00a0do <\/em>that?”<\/p>\n

I don’t know. I am new at all this parenting stuff, okay? But we have some ideas.<\/p>\n

Ideal ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, they can never observe us being cheap<\/strong>. Frugal, yes, but not cheap. I have two memories burned in my mind from my childhood. The first was when a relative sent me and my cousin into the store to buy some milk. Since the sale price was extended to only two gallons, we were each supposed to grab two gallons, but go to different checkout lanes.<\/p>\n

The second thing was when I observed someone abusing a 1-800 number. The employee’s daughter called her on the 1-800 line just because it was free. Saving money was a good thing, but saving money at the expense of someone else really bothered me. And still does.<\/p>\n

We will do our best to avoid modeling cheap behavior.<\/p>\n

We will eventually share our family’s budget with them. <\/strong>Our parents weren’t transparent about their incomes or expenses. And I am not very open about my finances, either. I have nightmares of our kids telling their friends’ parents about how much money we make or spend or give.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, we think that being transparent about our budget will have four benefits.<\/p>\n