Can I buy that?

0 Comment
1166 Views

There you are, standing calmly in the grocery store line, complimenting yourself for your patience while reading twitter headlines on your smart phone.  Suddenly, the toddler with the cupid curls you admired just two minutes prior lets out a blood curdling scream. No she is not being abducted. Her father has simply taken the candy bar she grabbed off the (strategically positioned at a three year old’s eye level) shelf from her precious little hands and told her “no.” 

 Is there a relationship between these everyday mini-financial battles and the international ones?  Thought Leaders serving on the Finance Panel at the first P20 Talks conference in August 2012 say “Bet Your Sweet Bank On It!” Better yet, spare society the misery and avail yourself of their wisdom.

Popular while it is to presume parents and schools are teaching children financial skills, the fact of the matter is even the average “fortunate” teenager’s curriculum can typically be described in three words “spending weekly allowance.” This impoverished educational process is then accompanied by character assassinations and name calling, “spoiled,” “entitled,” sound familiar? Is it any wonder these same teens point fingers and call one another names when they become adults?

While the brightest of the brightest contemplate salvation from self-manufactured fiscal cliffs, and Ben Bernanke laments “lack of information” on Bloomberg, Parenting 2.0 Finance Educators offer a different proposal – acknowledge now what you do not know and do something new.

Before you jump to providing the solution personally, however, please sit down. Yes sit down. Bad news is best delivered when you are not in punching position. Just as you would not attempt to teach your child french if you didn’t know it, don’t pretend to know the best means for educating your child in finance. Even if you do consider yourself a “finance educator extraordinaire,”  brains learn best with diversity of stimuli. So keep your curriculum exciting and incorporate the wisdom of others.  (If only I’d known these simple facts when my husband attempted to tutor our daughter in calculus – talk about battles – but I digress.)

At P20 we have one mission, empowering you in your role as a Life Skills Educator.  So check out the amazing finance educators and resources offered below, then pay this information forward. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and the critical point for Change is in your mirror.

P20 Talks 2012 Finance Panel Thought Leaders: Lynne Finch, Bill Dwight, Arnie Benn, Etay Gafni, Anthony DelMedico.