Tight-Lipped When Times are Tough: Keeping Money Worries Away From Your Kids
It is perhaps a bit ironic that when you don’t have any concerns about money it can often be the case that you don’t feel any real need to talk to your kids about money, but when you are cash-strapped, you definitely don’t want to talk to them about your money worries.
There are way of obtaining loans for those with poor credit, so it is not as if it is a rarity to have a power than ideal financial standing, but while it is understandable that you might want to keep certain problems away from your kids, like money worries, there are ways to deal with such a delicate situation.
Honesty is the best policy
If you are having money worries, it is almost always better, to be honest with your kids that you are having some difficulties, you just don’t need to tell them more than is necessary.
The age of your children has a bearing on how much detail you go into and if your children are older, it is often best not to go into such a level of detail about your financial problems, that you end up making them worried.
Brief explanations will often suffice and allow you to make some required adjustments to the family budget, without any unpleasant shocks when you are forced to scale back. You might even turn the situation into a more positive scenario, where you ask and encourage your kids to demonstrate some good budgeting behavior in order to help the situation.
It’s good to say no anyway
Almost regardless of whether money is tight or not, it doesn’t actually do any harm to say no to your kids now and again, as giving in to their demands all of the time is not a great thing to do anyway.
Setting sensible limits on spending and rejecting unrealistic pleas for a certain toy or gadget, will help you to get your budget back on track, and teach your child to learn that it is not feasible or right that they can get everything they ask for.
The fact that you might not be able to afford what they are asking for right now, almost becomes irrelevant to a point. The main thing is to not get upset or angry, either at their complaints that it isn’t fair, which is a well-worn phrase used by kids everywhere, or as a result of your frustration at not being able to get them what they want.
Kids are smart
If you are experiencing financial problems, kids of all ages are normally pretty adept at picking up the signs and putting various things together to draw their own conclusions, even when they are quite young.
It would be better to acknowledge this fact than try to pretend that nothing is wrong, which could lead them to worry more than they need to, or simply draw the wrong conclusion about what is wrong.
Kids tend to react well to input from their parents about a subject as delicate as this, so keep the details very matter-of-fact and avoid getting emotional.
It is always good to talk rather than stay tight-lipped about financial worries, no matter how difficult it might be to have any sort of conversation on this subject with your kids.
[info_box type=”pale_box”]Ben Head loves to share his money-saving insights and research. With the economy the way it is there’s never been a better time to learn how to make savings in everyday life. If you find Ben’s content useful, you can read more of his work at Everyday Loans.[/info_box]
Similar Posts:
- Freedom Debt Relief Discusses Creating Good Financial Habits for Your Family
- Building a Nest Egg
- A Simple Plan to Regain Financial Fitness
- Top Stay At Home Mom Jobs
- Select Simple Steps to Fix Finances Fast
