Raising $uccessful Kids
Teaching Kids About Money

Do Your Kids Have Instant Gratification Syndrome?
by Molly Smith

It seems our culture is teaching instant gratification. Remember before microwaves, you had to actually wait for something to defrost or preheat an oven? If you didn’t plan dinner in the morning, there wasn’t dinner that night. Funny thing, now that we have more options, less families are cooking dinner every night.

Teaching kids the value of money these days is not easy. Advertising is so prevalent, technology gives us so many things at our fingertips that how could kids understand that some things take time. We need to slow down and share with our kids how we save for things we want and how we research something to buy. Taking them with you from store to store to look for something is a start, but make sure you explain to them what you are doing. Kids love treasure hunts! Search for the best deal. Take notes.

Next time your child has a want… take the time to talk about it. The opportunity will present itself quickly with commercials on TV or the countless catalogs that get delivered. Talk about the price. Equate the price to the number of days or how many chores that it would take to save that amount. Do comparison shopping and find the best deal.

When they do make a purchase, they will not only have something new that they wanted, they will have learned a valuable lesson that will stay with them forever.

Maybe what they want isn’t something that they can buy any time soon. For instance, my son continually says he wants a quad (not a power wheels quad for the yard, like we already have… a real quad). It’s not just because the number of times he would need to feed the dog to earn that money or that we don’t have anywhere to ride it or that he is too young… it’s all of those things. So instead of saying NO, we discuss all those factors. He asks questions, good ones and I explain as much as I can. By discussing purchases with him and letting him think it through and ask questions, teachable moments continually present themselves.

Instant gratification syndrome makes it a challenge to teach your kids patience and the value of money. Let’s face it, it’s not just the kids that don’t want to wait for something. With no interest deals and credit cards, people are no longer saving for big purchases, but instead financing them. Everything is attainable with some credit and the willingness to acquire debt. Whether you are in debt or not, you need to decide what you are going to teach your children.

Teach your children patience and how to save and they will always prosper. You need to lead by example, but if you’re not, one of the best ways to learn how to do something is to teach it to someone else. Learn from one another, treasure your time together whether you are bargain hunting for toys or milk, there is always something to learn.
Molly Smith
Phone 508-659-0203
e-mail molly@raisingsuccessfulkids.com
www.raisingsuccessfulkids.com