Teaching Kids The Value Of A Buck!!!

Fran - your blogs give me such a lift everyday, even when I'm having a really down day!  My son is a youth pastor and one of 'his kids' parents got a cell phone for $3000 one month....guess who the culprit was...yep their sweet child....text messaging was the main thing...I don't know what eventually happened to the kid (I could tell you what would happen if it was my child)....but I bet it wasn't a pretty site!

I got pretty burned out blogging.  So I am now just getting back into it. 

Lone,

J.

Fran, those nickel and dime download charges add up from the wireless carriers. Wow, almost $200 that is steep. Seems like you have to go into some expense control there.

Hello Mr Gaspari,

I am Daniele, Barbara Carter's Granddaughter- We read your blog. I just got a cell phone, I have only a few rules. I can not make prank calls. I had to make a deal to get it. I have to be responcible for helping around the house. I have a job- I have to help my parents answer phones at our oil company.

I saw the tin cans and I am glad I do not have to use that!!!!!!!!!

Daniele

Excellent post Fran.  I am sure I will be using this down the line on my own child.  Thank you for the "blue print"

As one who never had children, there's not much I can offer here except that I remember my Dad saying "money doesn't grow on trees' many times.  Funny how he gets smarter every year!

That's quite the bill!! I hope he learned his lesson. Good Luck!!

Andy Laughlin

Connect Realty

FRAN- GREAT JOB!  You get an A+ in parenting 101.   At Minimum wage he owes you 35+hours. There are probably lots of ways you can fill his idle time.  Lawn work, cleaning out the garage etc. The best lesson in life comes from realizing that hard work goes into paying for everything we have.

Lesson well taught dad! I work with my kids also on the understanding of money, my two oldest 6 and 9 both have a job and get paid $30 a month, not much, but it does give them money to spend. They need to either save it for something they really want or they can buy things they want now.

One of the things the person who gave them the job required was $3 of the $30 go in to a saving that they can not touch...I loved that and they are finally getting used to it! But, what if they forget their wallet when we go out? I teach them about credit if they see something they really want. I will lend them the money to buy it, but it will cost them an additional 10% when we get home. 90% of the time they won't buy the item, but there has been that 10% of the time they have and they pay me a $1.10 for every $1 they borrow.

I don't think they will be using credit cards all that often when they get older!

Classic lesson and classic story....I have a 7 year old who feels that money is grown on trees with a never ending supply...........God Bless his little soul, I love the little booger!  But I don't take him shopping with me anymore to any known store, this is for the peace and quiet that I so desperately need!  LOL  I look forward to the day when he has children and paybacks! 

Cheron Lange

Fran - My daughter is 27 and her cell phone is on the same bill with mine. When I got an extra $220. bill for TEXT MESSAGING you can only imagine what hit the fan!!!! We have taken care of that and she is careful not to exceed her 200 text message limit each month! I don't care if you have the money or not, I can't see flushing it down the toilet and that is what something like that is doing!!!!!

Isn't parenting fun???????????????????????????????

Fran - I have to agree with you on that!