How Is Teaching Kids about Money Related to the Message: “You Deserve Better”?

Teaching kids about money and raising them to become wealthy as adults means giving them the message "you deserve better" each and every time.

Believe it or not, we, as parents, grandparents, or caretakers are teaching kids about money, about deserving to be abundant and rich through our everyday behaviors.

This is one experience when a child saw how deserving of quality he thinks his parents feel he is of life's best qualities.

I was helping a friend use one of her TV's to test a connection. The TV was obviously an old one. It displayed the channel being watched over about half of the screen. The display never went away and stayed, interfering with the picture the entire time the TV was on.

I assumed that this was just an old TV which my friend had planned to throw away. So I asked her if she wanted me to toss it when we were through testing the connection, since it was too old to make a repair cost effective and no one deserved to have to watch it.

She was surprised at my question and said, "No!" She said that was Anthony's TV.

Anthony is her six year old son. I told her that it was very annoying watching a program with the channel constantly displayed across the majority of the screen. She replied that Anthony didn't mind. My thought was that Anthony thought he didn't deserve better.

You might wonder, what does this have to do with...

... Teaching Kids About Money?

Well, what kind of hidden message does that send to this person's child? Every other TV in the house gets a normal picture (including the one in his sister's room), but Anthony's TV has a major defect. Is this telling him he "doesn't deserve better"?

You bet.

The probably thought that if he wants a TV at all, then he should be grateful for anything he can get. And I believe Anthony doesn't complain because he is happy to have a TV, even though he finds reasons to look at the other TV's in the house.

But the message the child is receiving is that he gets the broken stuff because he isn't as deserving or valuable as everyone else in the home. Of course, if HE broke the TV, that would be another story. But that is not the case.

When you are teaching kids about money, getting rich and abundant, you should pay close attention to the hidden messages you are sending your child. Even if your actions are the result of conflict within yourself (maybe a struggle as to whether or not your child SHOULD have a TV in his/her room) you need to recognize how that hidden message is being received.

Most of us love our children dearly and believe, in general, that they deserve the very best. But sometimes we still think of them as lesser human beings when it comes to the quality of what we give them - whether it is our time or our old TV's.

We may go into debt when we buy expensive presents for them, but it is the everyday "gifts" that matter most. That is when the greatest message of deserving to be rich comes.

Certainly you aren't required to give your children only brand new top of the line products. You and they can appreciate the value in less expensive and used items. The cost is not the yardstick. But the best quality which you can easily afford and/or obtain is what you need to give your children, especially if that item is something they want and will use for some time.

When teaching kids about money, abundance, and becoming wealthy you should never teach your children to believe the best they can expect is a blatantly flawed item. If that is what they learn to expect, they will never expect the riches due them as they give more of themselves to the world.

Don't misinterpret here.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money when giving children things. If all you can presently afford is a TV with a channel displaying across the screen the entire time, then that is fine. It makes no sense to take money away from more important purchases just so your child can have the best TV (or whatever).

The point is to give the best that you can afford or don't get the item at all.

If the gift will give your child a hidden message of lack or inferiority, then it would be best not to give the gift at all, for, in truth, it is not a gift. The initial thrill will give way to a feeling of inferiority each time the gift is used whether the child recognizes it or not.

And that inferiority will likely translate to a lack of expectation of getting the very best. That lack of expectation will likely translate to a life of mediocrity. One who feels he or she deserves the best will not accept mediocrity in his or her life.

Teaching kids about money and how to become wealthy adults starts with teaching them about self-worth and about knowing they deserve only the best. This will also avoid any self image issues they might have as adults.

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