Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness

There are enough fools in the world!

Raising Kids in the Age of Foolishness: Financial Advice #3 Spending and Saving

•             “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” — Proverbs 21:20

•             “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.” — Proverbs 21:20 (alternate translation)

Storing or gulping. I have heard the stories from the Great Depression of how children would hide a piece of biscuit under their pillow to make sure they had something for the next day. If they gulped it all down at once, there would be nothing for tomorrow. Some lessons are hard to learn. Except for God revealing the impending seven years of famine to Joseph through Pharoah’s dream, many people would have starved, and Israel may not have survived. Saving for seven years saved them. Had it not been for my father-in-law saving for his daughter and for my mother paying her social security before her death, I may not have made it through college and Brenda and I may have had a much tougher life. Now I am retired. I am still eating but not gulping.

I must confess that I have done my fair share of gulping. These days we normally have a “doggie bag” to bring home. Since we don’t have a dog, someone must eat what we save from eating out. Teaching a child to save is good practice. Some parents use this template for gifts or earnings a child receives from doing chores: Spend, tithe, save. The proverbial “rainy days” do come. Unexpected needs arise. Some live like there is no tomorrow. They squeeze out every bit of juice from the towel. Conservation and preservation are cousins to saving. Learning to be a faithful steward of what is entrusted into our care is a skill to be taught and learned. Parents are the instructors. But you cannot teach what you do not practice.

There is a difference between hoarding and saving. Some take saving to the extreme. They can’t bear to part with anything. “I might need it someday.”  The wise man is not arguing for a cluttered life. God wants us to use what we have for our needs and the needs of others. Those are the first two items on the template we discussed. There is a third leg on this stool called savings. In defense of the poor, saving may not be easy or even possible. What comes in is used because it is so little and life is expensive. I have great compassion for those who have just enough and often less than just enough to survive. I admire those who live on less to give more and save more. Saving is a curb to greed, covetousness, and waste. It requires discipline. Train your children in delayed gratification before their possessions gulp them down.