We all know kids are expensive.
There's food to buy and the latest, hippest fashions to don.
There are extracurricular activities to pay for, cell phones, computers and toys they need and college to eventually fund.
The older they get the more they seem to "need" things.
It's no longer acceptable to eat before going to the mall or to the movies when they can buy food there and pretty soon, for many of us, we witness the cash in our wallets gets depleted far faster than we can put it in.
As your child ages, there's a higher probability that her whining or even begging for money from you will increase.
Some savvy kids will even put a guilt spin on the plea or ask so much that the thought of handing them $20 far outweighs the cost of seeing a psychiatrist to maintain your sanity.
In general, people spend other people's money differently.
It doesn't matter what age you are; if you weren't the one toiling behind a desk or working in the field to earn the $20, then that Jackson has a different meaning or value between the one who earned it and the one who wants to spend it.
There are a few easy steps you can take to break this cycle when your child makes that cold, hard cash request for the things she thinks she needs: 1.
Take a deep breath and stay calm.
2.
Release your grip on your wallet and place your wallet firmly back into your pocket or purse.
3.
Continue to stay calm.
Move towards your child until you are within a five-foot radius and no further away.
Kids have a tendency to lose their hearing ability between the ages of two and 18.
Look your child squarely in the eyes.
4.
In a firm manner, tell your child to go earn his own money.
5.
Walk away and do not look back.
When you don't cave monetarily to your child's every material whim, you are doing him a great favor.
At some point your child will leave the nest and venture out into the world on his own.
He will come to realize there are no free handouts and that self-entitlement simply does not exist.
When he earns his own money, he will spend it differently than if you handed it to him and he will learn the correlation between work and financial rewards.
If you don't teach him this, who will?
There's food to buy and the latest, hippest fashions to don.
There are extracurricular activities to pay for, cell phones, computers and toys they need and college to eventually fund.
The older they get the more they seem to "need" things.
It's no longer acceptable to eat before going to the mall or to the movies when they can buy food there and pretty soon, for many of us, we witness the cash in our wallets gets depleted far faster than we can put it in.
As your child ages, there's a higher probability that her whining or even begging for money from you will increase.
Some savvy kids will even put a guilt spin on the plea or ask so much that the thought of handing them $20 far outweighs the cost of seeing a psychiatrist to maintain your sanity.
In general, people spend other people's money differently.
It doesn't matter what age you are; if you weren't the one toiling behind a desk or working in the field to earn the $20, then that Jackson has a different meaning or value between the one who earned it and the one who wants to spend it.
There are a few easy steps you can take to break this cycle when your child makes that cold, hard cash request for the things she thinks she needs: 1.
Take a deep breath and stay calm.
2.
Release your grip on your wallet and place your wallet firmly back into your pocket or purse.
3.
Continue to stay calm.
Move towards your child until you are within a five-foot radius and no further away.
Kids have a tendency to lose their hearing ability between the ages of two and 18.
Look your child squarely in the eyes.
4.
In a firm manner, tell your child to go earn his own money.
5.
Walk away and do not look back.
When you don't cave monetarily to your child's every material whim, you are doing him a great favor.
At some point your child will leave the nest and venture out into the world on his own.
He will come to realize there are no free handouts and that self-entitlement simply does not exist.
When he earns his own money, he will spend it differently than if you handed it to him and he will learn the correlation between work and financial rewards.
If you don't teach him this, who will?