OUR CHILDREN
Patri, Angelo
Our Children By Angelo Patri SOME children have a weakness for money. They crave the power it gives them. They want sweets beyond their allowance; they want more entertainment; they want to cover...
...Shirking it leads to grief...
...Surest Way Of Spoiling As they grow older they can do simple buying and gradually become trained in this field...
...Some children seem to be born spendthrifts, spending without reason, even without benefit...
...That is the surest, quickest- way of spoiling a good child that one can discover...
...A Weekly Allowance Put each child on a weekly allowance...
...Spending money is a family matter and the responsibility of all parents...
...There is no kindness in handing children money at odd times to spend for fun, without a thought of where it comes from or where it goes...
...Money that has not been earned can have little meaning for its possessor, old or young...
...Attending to it means good habits of using, spending, saving, managing, all of which must stand a young person in good stead in days to come...
...To have meaning and value, money must be the product of creative effort...
...Then as they enter adolescence they are to be allowed a glimpse of the family finances...
...The fun is important, and so is the responsibility...
...they want to cover failure by a show of success...
...Money is a force, of which children know little and need to learn much...
...For the younger children spending is to be fun...
...In time they are to be admitted into full partnership so that they have sensible notions about their relationship to the family in this important matter...
...Supervise his spending without making him feel that the money is not his but in such a way as to get him to feel you are helping him get the most out of it...
...As soon as a child begins asking for pennies he should be put on a weekly allowance, and held to it...
...The only way they can arrive at the truth about money and its uses is through practical experience...
...Until gathering these experiences first hand is possible, all we can do is to help the child to value experience as often as may be and set the background for good sense...
...Teach him to think about his spending...
...for the older ones, a responsibility...
...Children, not having the power to create such values, cannot know them and so make mistakes...
...to keep accounts as soon as he can count and use a pencil and pad...
Vol. 8 • April 1944 • No. 14
