As parents we want our kids to grow up to be independent, healthy, happy, and financially secure adults. Getting them there takes a lot of hard work. But knowing what your goals are can help. For example, is it one of your goals that your kids be responsible for making sure they remember to leave the house prepared? If it is, then bailing them out every time they forget is not going to get them there. If you rescue your…
Nobody likes to make mistakes. They’re annoying, frustrating, and sometimes even embarrassing. And they often make us feel like we’ve done something wrong. Unless we change the way we think about them. And when we do, we can discover that mistakes are one of the most powerful teaching tools we have. Consider your child being in charge of making a class poster for the school play. He brings home the poster board and stencils and begins to work. “Do you…
Ryan had a race this past weekend just east of Los Angeles. It was a 7-hour drive and the perfect opportunity for me to use my passenger time to review The Young Investor, Projects and Activities for Making Your Money Grow by Katherine R. Bateman. I was interested in reading the book because I am a big believer in exposing kids to ways to make their money grow. Early elementary kids should open a savings account at a bank…
Needs vs. Wants: Let’s say you’re in the dentist’s office with your child and you’re waiting for your “turn”. 🙂 You pick up a magazine and start flipping through it. This is the perfect opportunity to play the needs vs wants game. By the way, this works best if you use a child-friendly magazine like Parents or FamilyFun. “Hey, look at this cool yo-yo. I like the designs on it. What d’ya think? Would they be a need or a…
Have you ever thought about how kids learn to speak a pretty complex language? And when I say ‘speak’, I mean all the intricacies that go along with it…body language, inflection, nuance, …in addition to vocabulary and sentence structure. It’s a pretty amazing feat and, yet, we all learn how to do it pretty seamlessly and without formal instruction. Much of it happens indirectly. Our kids are absorbing what we do – it’s how they learn to operate in the world. And while absorbing…