Teach your kids to work

I've always been a fan of teaching my kids to work and earn money. Several years ago my oldest boy started selling soda and water at the Idaho State Convention. It is a great opportunity for him to learn about customer service, counting back change, being polite, having patience, and so much more. This year my oldest boy was gone camping with his scout troop so the learning opportunity got passed to the next boy. He had a great time, mostly. It was a struggle for him to not count his money every five minutes. And he kept wanting to go do other things that distracted him from selling. I got a lot of comments from others that varied from "That is great what you are teaching him" to "Isn't there a child labor law?" I like the way Dave Ramsey says it. “As a parent, when you don’t teach your kids to work, you are not being kind or gracious; you are being irresponsible. It’s your responsibility to teach your kids about both money and work. It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s not the church’s responsibility. It’s your responsibility. ” (Excerpt From: Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze. “Smart Money Smart Kids.” iBooks.) It really is your responsibility as the parent to teach you kids about work and money. Don't leave it to society to teach them. Based on the number of credit card offers I get a day, society won't set your kids up for success.

When the weekend was over and my son counted up the money he had earned he was very excited. He started talking about all the stuff he could buy and all the things he could continue to save for.