Once Upon A Time
But (sigh), these are not the traits of a master sales (wo)man, traits that, Robert Kiyosaki assures me, will make me very rich.
Be-Ribboned
I had to laugh at the incredulous look on my sister-in-law’s face as I shook my head from side to side. She could not imagine that we would want no surprises or take no surreptitious trips to the market to find that certain something that would delight a lover.
We have taken the same route with my daughter, who chose her Monopoly game board (discounted), Here and Now Edition (electronic banking instead of paper money!), with care, over a coveted Baby Alive (she thought it was too expensive – I am so proud of her). We bought it and wrapped it together and I do not think her excitement waned or was lessened because she still waited for “the day” until she could play with it and play with us (she lost during our first game and wanted to cry but won during the second and got her confidence back – we do not believe in letting her win just because she is a kid).
Loving Mother Nature
Circa 1980’s.
We would wait patiently by the side of the road in front of our house for a faint cry: Dyaryoooo! Boteeee! (newspaaaaaaper, booooottles) And when we hear it, we would rush to our house, get all the old newspapers, put them in a stack, get our hands on old glass and plastic bottles – of fish sauce, vinegar, shampoo, softdrinks – and wait for a vision of an old scruffy man pushing a kariton (pushcart). He would waive to us and soon as he is “parked”, we would help him haul the newspapers to his weighing scale. He would then count the bottles, do some math in his head, give us some money (a few cents, some paper) and he would go his merry way. We would waive to mom (asking her for permission but vaguely so she could not say no) and go our merry way too – to the store where we would buy candies and ice-cold soda with the bounty. Such was the life.
Happy Thoughts
To be fair to my parents, I think there was no consciousness yet, at that time, on the importance of teaching kids about money. What they knew was that they had to provide and that was the end of it.
But the power to dream of riches and making it come true lies at the core of one’s life – in one’s childhood. His views about poverty, about money, his poverty mindset (money does not grow on trees) and his wealth mindset (money grows on trees) start at that time which is at the root of all his memories.
And so we as parents have a duty to make those memories good ones, and that the mindset we cultivate is one of wealth.
Are you willing to take the step?
Fields, In Red, In Blue
So I called my daughter, who was busy playing, and asked her: C, what is money? Eyebrows going up, eyes slightly questioning (as if saying, now where is mom going with this), she says, tongue in cheek, voice bored, “It has a lot of numbers and signs on it.” Okay (sounds about right). I made a follow up question: C, do you know how you can make lots of money? Grinning, she answered, her voice lilting and confident, “I can draw it.”
Obviously, I have to teach her about money. And soon.
Interestingly, when Robert Kiyosaki was 9, he had the same idea.
Pitter Patter of Little Feet
You know what comes after. Children, lots of children.
Like some of my peers, I opted for one.
The One Child sat me up and told me in the most serious tone that she could muster, “I want a sister.” I sat there, uncomprehending. She tried again. “Or a brother…” I thought I detected a note of desperation on that one.
Why? My voice was incredulous.
“So I have someone to play with.” Now, that one’s easy. I told her she has her friends, her classmates. She said, “No, at night, when you are not yet here. Yoyow bites (she’s our Maltese) and Yaya always has to finish something…”
What do I say to that except that as an only child, she did not want for anything. We went on fancy vacations, she had shoes when she needed shoes, she went to the best school, did not have to go mano y mano for a toy, or food, or her parents’ affections.
She does not know what she is asking for.
And it also does not help that BabyCenter.com calculator estimated that raising a child would cost some USD$266,698. (to check how much your child would cost you, click here)
Sunflowers
I wanted to give my mother some money.
“Oh good!”, she says. “I can have your brother borrow it because he just got his credit card statement and he owed so much… You know your brother, he and his wife, they spend so much and they are at the mall all the time, buying this and that, and you know, they spend so much on their children, all the time…” She went on and on.
I was not sure I liked where the conversation was going and I told her so.
I asked her, trying to control my emotions (it is after all my money), “But mom, tell me… what good will that do? What will that achieve? Will that stop him from using his credit card or make him money smart? And you, what will you gain? She said, “Well, I can nag him.” My mother’s not-so-secret and ineffective weapon. “But that would only make him deaf, mother, not make him learn life’s lessons.”
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Teaching The Little Ones To Fish
I look at C and ask myself: How do I teach her about money philosophy? Forget philosophy. How do I teach her about money? It looks like such a daunting task. Can it be taught? I decided I would tell her stories.
Stories of the childhood of entrepreneurs always fascinated me. There was always this one fateful episode that would alter their path, make them entrepreneurs and lead them to untold riches – a parent’s influence, a disadvantage, an early realization that it is money which makes the world go round, and that they have got to have it on their side.
JOHN GOKONGWEI
John Gokongwei belonged to a family of rich migrants. He had it all as a kid. He was such a gallant young man that there were days when he would treat all of his classmates to a movie at the cinema his father owned. But at 13, his father died and he lost it all.