Homeschool Diva

First a few disclaimers.  #1 none of these pictures have anything to do with money but I thought they were so RAD I went for it anyway, and #2 This is a subject every family has to come to on their own before the Lord. Hopefully a few of these words will inspire you to do what God leads you all to in your own family life:-) #3 I have to get a mountain of laundry done today, but that really doesn’t have anything to do with this either so we will just carry on.

The 2 BIGGEST enemies of the gospel of Jesus are consumerism and individuality. Well, I must say we have that in SPADES here in south Florida. I think money, and the topic of money really deceptively weaves those two enemies of the message of Jesus and the gospel right into it.  Save for you, you, you so you can spend, spend, spend and then play, play, play and where the heck did the whole gospel of “prosperity come into play in western culture”?  I say this politely when I say that that crap is from the PIT for sure.  I mean when God told his people He wanted to see them prosper, he didn’t mean with monetary wealth, he meant with his Presence so that they could be a blessing to a broken world so that ultimately HE would be glorified.  That whole thing has gone awry in our culture don’t ya think?  Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.  Man, that junk will come in and mess you up on so many levels.  I will just hint at saying that even saving, 401k’s, college funds, etc. etc. could be a tiny bit out of balance in our hearts and minds as Christians. AND I only say that because I have fallen head long into that trap in my life.  Thankfully I am blissfully free of it, and have never been more content with much less stuff in my whole life. I love Burkett, and financial responsibility but ummmm, how do you “teach” that stuff to those in other cultures who are making do with day to day?  Just asking the question is all.   I think the message is the same across cultures and circumstances.  “Don’t worry about tomorrow, seek His kingdom and all of the other details work out”, or something like that. Sorry.  Am I being too simplistic?  I do that some times, anyway moving on.

I also think Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said “Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink, or your kids college or what you are going to do when you get old, just worry about today it has enough crap of its own to think about.”Okay that was my paraphrase, but you get what He was saying right?  So how do we responsibly teach our kids about money and saving and giving and so forth without letting those two enemies we talked about in the beginning creep in?  Good question…glad you asked.  Like I said yesterday, we don’t give our kids a weekly allowance for a few basic reasons.  #1 our budget. Even a small weekly allowance X 3 X 4 weeks a month adds up to a lot, and really how much money do little kids need to learn how to be responsible with it? #2 I think it devalues me as the Mom who does all this junk around here all the time, with no thanks and no money.  I mean what the heck?  Do you think these clothes just magically wash/fold themselves and put themselves away.  Okay, they don’t always get put away right on time, but lets not split hairs. Nope, we work as a team, and we get it done together.  I think it helps build character AND life skills all at once which are JUST as important as learning how to rightly manage money.

Here are a few practical things you can do for your kids to help them get prepared for God to move on their hearts in regard to money.  Because ultimately we sow the seed but God will make it grow right?!

• Open a bank account.  $5 bucks will get you going.  It was a big “Ahha” moment for our kids when the realized you don’t get money out of the bank without putting money into it. Plus if it is harder to get to, it will be harder to just get spent on Bubble gum if you get my drift.
• Ask some family members to give them a few dollars at Christmas and birthdays.  Think about it.  Say they get 10 bucks for Christmas and their Birthday, that is $20 a year for a 5, 6 and 8 year old. I mean come on, how much do they need to really learn how to use money rightly? The last thing I want is them day dreaming about how much money they are amassing so they can go buy whatever the heck they desire.  Remember consumerism and individuality?  It can creep right in, right there, and I well tell you right now I am going to guard the heck out of it here in our own home.  That is also the reason we stopped playing monopoly right now.  I saw a little greedy seed crop up, when they all were reveling in owning the world.  Oops, I saw that and in my heart, I was hearing, “ABORT, ABORT like fast.”  I quietly put it away and will take it out maybe later.  Hey better yet, maybe I will invent one based on giving instead of amassing wealth.
• We offer a small monetary fee for jobs above and beyond their normal chores, if they are really wanting to work towards getting something that we have said isn’t in our budget.  It isn’t an every week thing, just here and there.  I think it is good to makes kids work towards what they want.  I don’t buy them every new thing that comes down the pike.  I mean I really don’t buy them much at all. Would you be shocked to know we didn’t buy or kids a single thing for Christmas last year? Really, not one single thing and you know what, they still got more then they could ever use.
• Once they have an account, take a day, where you sit down together and talk about what money is.  Nothing more then a tool.  We spend it, we give it, we save it, we don’t hoard it.  That’s it.  Jackson realized the other day, that at one point in history money had no value, you traded what you had.  Hey I will give you a bushel of apples if you will give me a slab of meat, and it all came together.
• Then pray with them about how much they should give and where they should give it.  I think that helping your kids begin to hear what God is saying in their heart about the poor and marginalized will give them deeper joy in giving then in just making them do it.  I did this with our crew a few months ago, and it was crazy what they felt lead to give to.  Jackson was lead to a local migrant community, Chloe’s was sent to Africa and Hudson wanted his to go to Old people. I also don’t make them do a certain percent at this point.  I tell them, it is all God’s and He gives it us so we can steward it correctly.  Listen he will tell you how much to give.
• A little business isn’t a bad idea either.  Our kids have a lemonade stand.  They pull it out from time to time to make a few bucks.  It is cute and another real world math example that REALLY sticks in their minds let me tell you what.  They have also made some cash by dog sitting and walking while friends are away.  Hey, win/win in my book.  They get to see what it is like to have a dog without out us actually having to,you know, buy one.
• This year for the first time, we gave them all a clothing budget.  Here they sat, at this computer, and shopped at old navy for some new clothes for this school year.  They had to put whatever they wanted in their bag, with the right size and color without regard to cost. Kind of gave me an idea of what they like in regards to style.  I said you must put in 2 shirts, 1 short, 1 pant, 1 dress etc.  They had to follow the task.  Then we saw how much it all cost and how FAR it was outside of their budget.  Then they had to think it through and figure out what they really needed and what they really wanted, and what to put back.  It was fascinating to watch them.  Our youngest who is 4.75 GOT this with no problem.  Now this year, they will have to take care of the things they budgeted and spent for. We also said, you can’t get this until the tax free week, so they are having to WAIT. Did I say waiting was a good thing.
• Well it is, teach them to wait…..and that will flow over into every area of their life. Delayed gratification is a very, very good thing for little guys and Mommy’s and Daddy’s too.

So there are a few of my thoughts on money and kids and apparently laundry too.  Be blessed all of you out there counting the cost even when it comes to a silly little piggy bank.  It is a bigger deal then we think.