Children and Money

We Are All Lucky Duckies

We are All lucky duckies

Thanksgiving is a very special time of year in my home. We gather with family and friends and enjoy a meal together as we give thanks for our many blessings. I also don’t believe gratitude is a one-day yearly event. In our family, we call ourselves, “Lucky Duckies” because I want my girls to be grateful for all the wonderful things in their lives.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

This is one my favorite quotes on gratitude. One that I share with clients and my girls to remind them about the power of gratitude. One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is to teach them how to be grateful every day. Too often we get caught up in the race to acquire more things and forget about how much we already have.

In our home, we teach our kids how to be grateful through our actions and words. After the girls help me unpack our groceries, I’ll stand with the refrigerator door open and say, “Aren’t we lucky duckies to have a full refrigerator?” Or when we dine out, I’ll casually mention, “We are so blessed to have this time together, and the money to go out to dinner”

So many children take these things for granted and don’t realize how lucky they are. If we learn to not feel entitled to these things, we find gratitude and joy in simple, every day pleasures, which is a very happy and fulfilling way to live your life. I wish for my children to live in gratitude and know the best way to teach them is to model it first.

This Thanksgiving, I am particularly grateful to every reader of The Heavy Purse blog, our ever-growing number of twitter followers and facebook fans. The chance to share my passion and knowledge to help you teach your children about money makes my heart so full. You are the reason I am doing this. Thank you for your support. I wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving.

Shannon

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November 16, 2012  •  2 Comments  •  Children and Money

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  1. Thursday, November 22nd, 2012
    Hi Shannon
    Making children money savvy is sooo important. We recently bought our son ( he is 11) a new 3D DSi with expectation that he would pay half of the cost out of money he had saved. We don't expect him to pay half of everything, just big ticket items that he really wants. Obviously we discuss before hand what Big ticket items. (No flat screen tv's or cell phone's) lol.
    • Monday, November 26th, 2012
      That’s fantastic, Jill. I think it’s so important children understand the cost of things they want and help pay for them when appropriate. They value those items more or quickly learn to make sure they really want it when they have to help pay for it! Children naturally “want” everything when Mom and Dad are buying, but are more particular about what they want when they have to use their own money too. Great lessons!
Shannon Ryan SHANNON RYAN, CFP®
  • Meet Shannon

    "As a Certified Financial Planner, it is my passion to help individuals and families build a healthy relationship with money. I look forward to helping you raise financially confident kids.” - Shannon Ryan