Teach your kids a lesson in these hard times
Are you one of those whose financial situation has gone down with the markets? Lost your job? Hit with huge losses?
You're not alone. But do you have kids and a family to feed as well? I know a friend that lost his job, and yet he still has a stay-at-home wife and a kid, aged 9, to feed. He doesn't like to talk about his financial problems in front of his kid, but I think that's a huge mistake.
Your kids know more than you think. They feel your fear. All their friends are talking about the financial crisis anyway, and maybe they have friends, too, whose family lost jobs and as a result got their allowance cut. If you don't talk to your children about these, you not only scare them more, but you literally give up on a golden opportunity to help them learn something important in their lives.
Use these simple tips:
- Be honest - tell them what's going on
- Keep it simple. Don't go into all the economic theories.
- Tell them why this is happening - especially all the bad financial habits that lead to this!
- Impact - how does this change things for you and them?
- Ask for their understanding and help (to be more conservative about money, demands, expenditure, power conservation, etc).
You'll be surprised at how it turns out, probably :)
Have you talked to your kids before about something as serious as this before, even though they might be under the age of 10? Let us know how it turned out!
