You know how as a parent you have some things you do really well and others you just really failed at? Well, my thing I (and my family totally agrees) that I get a BIG FAT F at is riding with/teaching my girls to drive.
However, the thing that we have been super intentional at is helping our girls be financially independent throughout the different ages/stages they've been.
I've been sharing recently in my stories about ways we've helped them at different ages. You can check out everything so far in my highlights on Instagram.
It got me to thinking how that became a thing for me and was so important and it caused me to remember two specific times that I think were key for making this such an important part of parenting for us.
Back when I was a teenager, I remember overhearing a parent, of a kid a bit older than me, say out loud the ways she had chosen to raise her child, which was to not give them any independence in their choices or to give them much money at a time...they always had to ask for EVERYTHING. That parent proclaimed they would not be able to handle it...guess what? That became true because of how they didn't let their kid handle larger amounts of money as they grew older. At that young age, I was already seeing how that was not playing out well (it only went downhill from there) and I was determined for myself that was not going to be my story and that would not be the story if I ever had kids.
The other time that played a part in this decision to be super intentional about helping our girls be money smart was a positive thing. There was a couple that was several years ahead of us in the parenting game and their kids just were excelling in so many areas. The kind of parents that you lean in when they are sharing any tips or tricks. One thing I learned they did was when their kids reached Ninth Grade was to give them monthly their allowance/money for everything they would need. That included money for clothing, school lunch, entertainment, money for savings, etc.
Basically, whatever money you were spending on them directly during the month to give them in a lump sum each month and let them learn how to budget or learn that a month can be really long if you spend it all right away.
The other time that played a part in this decision to be super intentional about helping our girls be money smart was a positive thing. There was a couple that was several years ahead of us in the parenting game and their kids just were excelling in so many areas. The kind of parents that you lean in when they are sharing any tips or tricks. One thing I learned they did was when their kids reached Ninth Grade was to give them monthly their allowance/money for everything they would need. That included money for clothing, school lunch, entertainment, money for savings, etc.
Basically, whatever money you were spending on them directly during the month to give them in a lump sum each month and let them learn how to budget or learn that a month can be really long if you spend it all right away.
There is NO CONTEST as to which kids from these two examples have turned out more successful in their habits and what they have been able to do with their lives so far.
I will be sharing in the coming days how we took this second example and followed that model during high school, what we did in college and how that's working for our employed daughter!
Do you have an area that you have been super intentional about in parenting?
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