Money in My House

Math lesson: “Mom’s money is Mom’s money and Daddy’s money is Mom’s money.”

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Boy: Counting, recounting the money he earned folding laundry this month. Saving for a tablet. “$7.50. I have a long way to go to get to $200.”

Mom bites lip, looks up at ceiling. He doesn’t know she borrowed the $120 he made as a child study in a psychology program (last year).

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Tonight

Daddy: “Daddy’s sad because he lost his wallet.”
Boy: “Oh, that means we will be poor now.”

58 thoughts on “Money in My House

  1. I thought I was the only one to borrow money from my kids, and then forget to pay it back! Thank God I have company.

    Please tell Tennyson he rocks!

    Love,
    e

  2. A money lesson story from my boy’s childhood: My son thought he had it all figured out. He would ask Santa for the expensive gifts because he knew that we didn’t have the money for those gifts!

  3. haha. This was perfect. My son still doesn’t have a clear idea about money. But I to stop myself from saying that I don’t have enough money to buy that, or that this particular toy is too expensive in front of him. I don’t want him to obsess about money at so early an age. I usually resort to these tactics when he stresses about buying some weird toy he will never play with. But yes, it is important for him to understand that he can’t have everything he points to in life. Right?

    • So interesting, Nida. I love how we can introduce different perspectives to one another. What you work to avoid saying to him is exactly what I make it a point to say at times. We are not made of money – far from it – but at the same time we are more comfortable than many families and than we ourselves had dreamed we would be. I’ve worried the last few yrs about the impact of this COMFORT on T. I want him to see us mindful of our spending bc we do in fact have a limit. So when he asks to buy a toy – which he has only 2000 of in his giant playroom – I say no, we don’t have the money for it at the moment. We have started to offer the alternative of his saving for what he wants. I couldn’t believe he wanted to save for a tablet. Sigh. All his friends are sporting iGadgets and he doesn’t even watch TV. My husband thinks it’d be almost cruel not to let him get one when he’s bent on working for it (building from ground zero!) but I think he’s just too young for iAnything.

      • I couldn’t agree more! “he is too young for ianything.” (I am going to remember this expression :D)…I strongly believe in children playing outdoors. I HATE video games etc. But the fact that your son is saving just for a tablet is adorable. Maybe you can let him off the hook this one time;)…

      • You made me think. So just now, I was saying to myself that it’s one thing for kids to see their parents struggling to survive, to sense the desperation I sensed in my mother. But I think it’s another for them to watch their parents being mindful and to see a check on impulses. We come back to boundaries. Boundaries needed in all things. Thx for the great conversation. Who needs to go all the way to a coffee house and spEnd on gas and drink when we can do this? =)

      • Oh yes absolutely:). Nothing like a virtual heart-to-heart from the comfort of our homes. You know, this conversation could be another idea for a series of posts.

  4. Hilarious! I enjoyed this very much, thank you. And many thanks for visiting my new blog, I’m honoured ☺. Looking forward to reading more of your posts. I too am a mom in process of finding myself again now that my daughter is in school ~ balancing act is a challenge! Peace, love & light, julia

  5. I once told my son we didn’t have the money to get something he replied, “All you have to do Dad, is go the that machine(ATM), it will give you more!”

  6. ha ha ha, great post, I think my Mum used to say ‘what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine’ to my Dad, an oldie but a goodie. And my Dad definitely said ‘happy wife, happy life!’.

  7. I think my wife used to mitigate that phrase a bit. Something like, “What’s mine is mine, and what’s your’s is mine, unless I say you can borrow it”. Whatever, she was happy, so I was happy.

  8. We used to have envelopes: groceries, clothes and fun. I think we had more fun trying to make the fun stretch than with the fun proper. But it sounds like you are having lots of fun in your own way.

My Two Gold Cents in the Holistic Treasury

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