How do you, as a parent (s), prevent your child from making debts?

Yesterday I watched the program” A dime on its side “which is broadcast at RTL and I thought it was a wonderful episode to watch. This episode was about young Richard and Jennifer and they're in deep debt. In her youth, Jennifer got everything she wanted, not learning what the value of money is. And Richard grew up in a family in debt. They “forget” to pay their fixed expenses every month.

Delicious sounds of course very unkind because it was terrible how these two were in financial terms, especially when you consider that they wanted to have a common future and already had more than 15,000 euros in debt. And then it was not a study debt, not a mortgage or other debts that have anything to do with an investment in the future, but it was about debts relating to “gadgets” and “good life” and not paying the fixed expenses.

I had to deal with them because I also realized that if you haven't learned how to deal with money, things can easily go wrong. Why did I find it “wonderful educational” to watch you might wonder? Well, because I happened to watch this program with one of my children and I was able to explain the choices I make in the upbringing with an example on this episode. I can tell the children that you have to spend money only when you have it and that you have to save for expensive things but an example that shows what happens when you do spend money that you don't have is just a little easier. And let me be completely honest. Sometimes it is also just nice to be able to say “Look and that's why I always say”. At the end of the episode, you saw that with the help of the program they entered the green numbers monthly.

My child had lived so much with Richard and Jennifer that he immediately saw it rosy for them. That is of course also a positive outcome, but when I told him that they still have a debt of 15,000 euros and that the 600 and some euro in the green figures had to go all the way to the creditors and that they had to pay it over the next TWO years he had to pay it off. swallow. That for the next two years this meant that they still couldn't buy anything, couldn't make outings, couldn't get married, couldn't eat out or go to the Mc when I saw that he was totally aware of it. Look and that's why I think, “What a wonderful educational tool this episode is”.

Of course, as a parent, you are not fully in control whether or not your children later when they are independent, but I personally think that you can put some things in their backpack. What can you do as a parent to give children insight into money and the value of money? Because, of course, that's what I think is about.