It Is Never Too Early to Teach Your Kids About Wealth

Children are very aware of their environments. They flourish more when things are in harmony. Wealth is a state of mind, freedom to your time the way you choose and contentment with all things physical and emotional.

A Story

It is easy to get caught up in the things of the world as an adult, the same can happen to our little ones. The world is a noisy place. My daughter, Daisy was a special child from the moment I saw her. She had spirit and a meekness that I had never seen before. Perhaps it is the cliché that we all want to believe that our child is extra special but whatever it is, we believe it and cling to it for the rest of our lives. In trying to teach Daisy the value of a dollar from an early age, she eventually taught me the concept of true wealth.

I started out like a lot of mothers do, adding coins to piggy banks and opening a savings account in her name. Eventually, Daisy became old enough and by age 5, Daisy was dropping in her own coins. Token and awards for good behavior, Christmas and birthdays money went directly into an ever-expanding piggy bank. What astonished me is when Daisy, at just 7 years old decided to offer her life savings to a local charity catering to people who had no food to eat. Her reason being, “mommy, they need it, but I don’t.” As jaw dropping as it was, it set me on a journey to change the way I looked at life and most importantly, what I was teaching her about true wealth.

People are more valuable than Piggy Banks

We are taught that money equates to wealth and we should get it by all means. Saving money is important but give your children invaluable life lessons at the same time. Manners goes a long way and kindness never goes unnoticed. Taking the time to lend a helping hand or share a few kind words keeps that human element alive.

Know Yourself

A child that starts to understand his/herself from an early age has a better understanding of themselves as an adult. Yes, they are continuously developing but there are lessons to be learnt along the way. Knowing what you are willing to accept, what you support and what you stand for forms who we are. Correcting bad behaviors, kind people interactions and self-expression are ways in which we teach kids and learn who our kids are and who they might be.

Learn Skills That Benefit Not Just you but Those Around You

There are many skills that can be turned into careers. The aim should always be to spend more time with the people who matter most. We should show our kids by example that some things are just bad for us and disrupts our wavelength. When we feel instinctively that something is not right for us, we must stay away from them. This can come in the form of friends, jobs, food etc.

Wealth Is a state of mind and a state of being

Rushing to work, incurring student loans, living on a shoe-string budget and having no time for family is no way to live. True wealth gives you the freedom to do the things that you love. This is a hard lesson to teach kids but it is worth it. We do not want our little ones to feel stressed or grow into burdened adults. We want them healthy. Sometimes less is more and happiness can mean a scoop of ice-cream or being able to have family dinners every night. Whatever it means to you and your kids, teach and show them the value in having that peace of mind. Life should not be a rat-race. We live in a superficial world, it doesn't mean we have to raise superficial kids.

Keep in mind that we are now raising millennial's and we want them to remain free and human while having a good quality of life.