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The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Travis Pizel. Enjoy!
My wife and I aren’t perfect. As we fight our way out of credit card debt, we occasionally slip up and overspend. We had just such an episode in July, and starting the following month, it was all hands on deck to recover from the financial hole we had dug for ourselves. Unfortunately, during that period, we had to stop paying one of our regular monthly expenses, and are now behind. Who is that creditor?
Our children.
We had to cut every expenditure we could, which included suspending the weekly allowances of our son, Tristan (13) and our daughter Tori (10) until we could get our budget and spending back on track. Lucky for us, they were very understanding of our situation, and granted us enrollment into a hardship program that gave us 0% interest and no late fees.
Our kids’ weekly allowance is one dollar for each year of their age. We had to suspend their allowance for six weeks which means we owe them a total of $138. On September 14th, we sat them down and told them that we were re-instating Friday as allowance day, and handed them each their weekly amount. We also told them that we would be “making up” the missed weeks by paying them double on selected Fridays.
We could have just walked away from the missed weeks, after all we are their parents and what we say goes, but that just didn’t feel right. I also thought this would be a great teaching opportunity for our kids.
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Financial irresponsibility and debt can affect more than just you. Your debt can affect your significant other, your children, and everyone around you. I felt like a failure kneeling beside my son’s bed telling him he wouldn’t be getting his allowance for awhile.
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Never walk away from your debts. You may not be able to pay right now. But hopefully, you’ll be able to eventually. Plan for it and make it happen. Even if your debt is to your 10 year old daughter.
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Watch me fail, then watch me overcome: Our kids don’t know the specifics or the numbers, but they know we’re in a Debt Management Plan. They’ve watched us fail. But more importantly, they see us fight back and overcome those failures. They’ll watch us pay them back the owed allowance, and they’ll be a witness to the day when we make that final payment and be rid of our credit card debt.
Parents commonly say they want their kids to learn from their mistakes. I want more than that. I want them to learn how to recover from those mistakes. I don’t want my kids just to remember the time mom and dad stopped giving them allowance and how they couldn’t buy that new video game like they had planned. I want them to also remember how mom and dad gave them double allowance for what seemed like forever because they wanted to make it right.
How about you all? What financial lessons are important for you to teach your children? What strategies do you use to facilitate those lessons?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Other_g374-Giving_To_The_Poor_p57545.html
