Molding Your Child’s Money Mind

These are a collection of short stories that I was told when I asked various people the question, “tell me about experiences that shaped your views about money”. You will see they can have a profound effect on shaping your child’s life and views on money.  

Share with me your story and I will add it!

Think back long ago to your early memories about money. What stands out? What do you remember either getting you excited about money, shaming you about money or was there an indifference to money? Chances are high something sticks out in your memories.

Did your parents struggle with money, were they big spenders or frugal? Did you have to work to get things you wanted or were things always given to you?

Whether you realize it or not, both your direct experiences with money and influential people in your life’s experience with it, shaped you and caused you to form opinions, actions and beliefs that shape your life now. You still might not even realize it!

I challenge you to think about those experiences and if you haven’t already share them with your partner. Then share them with your kids. It will help them get perspective on your biases and where you are coming from when you have a strong opinion on something related to money.

Then think about how you want to share money experiences and how your children perceive you with money. 

Collection of short stories that shaped people’s lives:

I remember growing up and when my parents got divorced financially things became very difficult. My father did not pay child support and my mom had an extremely low income. My mom struggled to make ends meet, there was never very much food around, but we were not starving. I started working very young so I could have money of my own. 

I remember my dad declaring bankruptcy and making promises to get me things that he could not follow through on. 

I remember sitting in my mom’s waiting room, while she saw patients because she did not have money to pay for daycare. I learned to entertain myself while I waited. There were no other options.

I remember when I checked into a sports club they flagged my membership as “low income”, which we were, so we qualified for a discounted rate. I remember feeling embarrassed every time I checked into the gym. 

I remember having to call my dad and beg him to put some money on my debit card. I was in front of a bunch of my friends and my card kept getting declined when I was trying to purchase something. I remember feeling humiliated because I knew money was never an issue for my friends.

I remember graduating from college with $19K credit card debt. I vowed that once it was paid off to never let that happen again and I did as I promised.