DR CHET SPEVENS | Finance Expert | CONTACT
Are you tired of witnessing your kids indulging in the carefree joys of childhood without a care for what it actually takes to survive in this cut-throat world?
You’re not alone. In fact, many intelligent parents know that these days it’s too expensive to let children enjoy a prolonged, gilded youth. It actually makes more financial sense to cut short their childhood and put them to work now.
But you can’t just take away a kid’s nappy and throw them into work. You must prepare them for the stark reality of the workforce through this step-by-step approach:
DITCH THE TOYS – Forget bedtime stories; bedtime balance sheets are the way to go. Put your kids to work analysing stock market trends and economic indicators. Who needs fairy tales when you can dream about mutual funds? If they struggle to understand the data and bawl their eyes out because they’re not happy with what they’re doing, don’t worry about it, that’s normal. You’re teaching them an important lesson about what hating a job feels like, something they’ll have to learn again when they reach the legal age of being allowed to work in a job they dislike.
DRESS FOR SUCCESS – Say goodbye to superhero costumes and princess gowns. Instead, dress your kids in tiny suits and briefcases to attend preschool. You’ll teach them that while a person may look fiscally responsible through designer clothes and other material possessions, they may be in severe credit card debt, using these things to hide it. Just don’t let their newfound social status through material possessions go to their heads! Make them pay you back for the new threads with this last important lesson.
MANUAL LABOUR – Literally put them to work, hard. I’m talking about intense manual labour. This should silence their innocent laughter and give them pause to think about what it means to be fiscally responsible. Give them a rake and tell them, “Rake the yard, and I’ll give
you $4 an hour.”
12 hours later, call them back inside and pay them their pittance, minus whatever their new suits cost them.
Then they’ll know the value of a dollar. Good luck.
