I’ve got a confession to make. It’s a pretty big one. It wasn’t something I even really thought about until we were putting together this issue. My husband and I don’t talk to our kids about money. Not ever, really. Not only do we not sit down and have regular financial chats with them (does anyone?), I know I have subconsciously shifted the discussions with the kids away from anything vaguely money-related. As if they had asked about sex.
I err on the side of “less is more,” anyway, when it comes to most grown-up discussions with our kids. Their little 3-year-old and 5-year-old worlds are free of war and terrorism and natural disaster — a carefully thought-out choice on my part (ask me about it sometime, I dare you). But I’ve had to do some thinking about why the topic of money has become a personal taboo. And I’ve decided it’s because we want them to feel secure and know that all their needs will always be met. We don’t ever want them to feel like a burden or that their needs and wants cost Mommy and Daddy money.
But they do cost money. And more so by the day.
For example, this weekend: Walnuts were on the grocery list. Husband and kids went to the grocery store. The next morning, I reached sleepily into the pantry where the walnuts go and sprinkled a handful of glad corn (you know, that toasty, salty roasted corn — yum) on my oatmeal. Wait, huh? My 5-year-old — ever perky in the morning — helpfully explained, “They had walnuts at the store, but they weren’t for sale. I don’t know why they weren’t selling them.”
A missed lesson. A hard economic truth glanced over. Clearly, Papa noticed that the price of nuts for our morning oatmeal had gone through the roof and decided we could do without. But he didn’t voice this clearly to the kids in the cart — and I probably wouldn’t have, either. (And wait a minute. That means — and I just realized this — glad corn was cheaper than walnuts. What’s up with that?) Not a big deal, I guess, skipping the $14-a-pound nuts or failing to explain the difference between “on-sale” and “for sale.” But a young life full of missed economic lessons can add up, as Monica Wright found out in our feature on college kids and credit cards, “Mad Money,”. I’ll always be tightlipped when it comes to talking money, I know, but I think I can start by talking comparison-shopping. Baby steps.
