A lesson I try to teach my kids is that money gives you freedom.
- When you have money of your own, you have the ability to make more choices.
I tell them this to encourage them to go out and find part time jobs, or to cut lawns around the neighborhood, or become babysitting while they are in high school. I don’t just hand out money – I pay the bills and buy the food, and anything else they need to buy for themselves. When they realized how much they wanted to have spending money, they found the motivation to look for work. I don’t let the kids decide when we get to turn down the air conditioner, that is up to me. When they want the cooling levels adjusted they ask me, and I determine if we should turn the thermostat down or not. Usually I decide that it is cool enough already, because I am the one paying the utility bill at the end of the month. The kids decided that they would save up their money to buy a small air conditioner for their end of the house. They thought this meant they could use the A/C as much as they wanted. To some degree they were correct, but before they bought this air conditioner I explained to them that it cost money to run it, as well. If they wanted the cooling they would have to pay part of the utility bill every month. The kids didn’t know that buying the A/C unit was just the first part, and that they had to keep paying to use it.