One of the things many parents overlook when teaching their kids about life is the real value of things. Many parents just get angry when their kids waste food or squander allowance on some “petty” stuff yet they fail to explain why kids should be valuing these things in the first place.
While it can be pretty hard to explain to a kid why they should finish the food in their plate other than the usual “Kids are starving in Africa” or some other third world country, parents should make an effort in letting kids know that there is a lot of work that needed to be done to put food on the table.
Kids tend to think of parents as endless springs of money. We all know this isn’t the case and that there’s a great deal of hard work and sacrifice to provide for the family.
Other parents make their kids “work” for their allowance to teach them the value of income early on. Allowance is then seen as their “income” for doing chores around the house. Not too sure about the Dr. Phil side to this but I believe that this creates the sense of work = money in children.
Parents should involve children (especially the older ones) when discussing family financial issues. Parents often avoid involving children to save face especially when the family’s in financial trouble.
