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Money occupies a significant position in our everyday lives, so much so that it has come to assume a controlling influence in the society. About 80% of people's daily activities are connected to money, and one's socioeconomic experience is shaped by the quality of his or her financial choices. A greater chunk of challenges people face in their private or professional lives are centered around money. From crises in business to friendship, marriage, and even governmental problems, are often as a result of the absence or bad usage of money.
Most bad financial habits people currently struggle with were picked up in childhood, especially from home, but only made manifest during adulthood when they started earning income and are now responsible for their personal financial decisions.
Bad money habits exhibited by you as a parent often birth another bad financial habit in your children and are yet to manifest. Simply put, you may be responsible for your child’s early adulthood financial struggles. Some of your bad financial lifestyle automatically sets up a negative financial trajectory for your children who are watching. They may mature in this path and have a catastrophic ending unless there’s a correction. These home-acquired habits sit quietly in them until they find expression in their later years.
Habits, whether good or bad, are learned. It is also transferable. Let's consider some of the money-related behaviors of parents and how they may evoke some serious negative financial habits in the adult lives of their children.
YOU BUY ON IMPULSE
Children don't do what you tell them but what they see you do. When you continuously violet your budget, you are teaching your children financial indiscipline. Without a word, you have successfully told them that it is the shelf and not the budget that should dictate how expenditure is made. They may likely grow up finding it difficult to live on a budget, too.
YOU SAY YES TO EVERY REQUEST
If you make financial decisions at a whim, you would be making your children believe spending should be without restraint. Sometimes it pays to make your wards choose which option amongst their requests to sacrifice to get another. It helps them to learn how to set their financial priorities right. By doing so, you would have taught them the art of making financial choices that fetch the highest value for money.
YOU ARE TOO MISERLY
Being extremely frugal would put your children through considerable deprivation. The import of this is that, in their earning years, the likelihood of them spending excessively to compensate for past denials would be very high.
YOU MAKE ALL FINANCIAL DECISIONS FOR THEM
When you exclude your children from making contributions to the expenditure list that affects them, not letting them make even the low-risk financial decisions on matters that concern them, you would have succeeded in denying them the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them, helping them to grow their financial management skill. Skill kids pick up early by being in the most important Management School - the home. Without future intervention, such children would become financially illiterate, lacking what it takes to make sound financial judgments. Hence they grow up to become bad money handlers.
The essence of this post is not for blame game, but it’s a way to make parents aware of the possible consequences of seemingly inconsequential financial activities on their kids. It is simply a call for more vigilance, balance, and proactiveness in their financial actions. Parenting is a lifelong journey; the secret to success is being thoughtful, teachable, and maintaining an open communication channel with your children. Discuss everything, including what they think and have learned regarding your spending style. It opens up the opportunity for mutual correction.
