Meet Harry

I'd like to introduce you to Harry, my son's odd-looking, plastic friend.

Harry was an impulse purchase (most things Curt buys are like this) about three weeks ago. He'd whipped through the checkout line at the consignment shop before I even knew he planned to spend anything.

And Harry cost four dollars.

Now, I'm a saver, but I've tried to instill in my children values about money -- to include earning, saving, giving, investing, and well, spending. My kids each earn money as employees in my company, and just recently they've begun receiving an allowance as well. But sometimes, this is quite a lot of financial responsibility, as I only buy their essentials -- the rest is up to them.

Sometimes my kids make excellent money choices. And sometimes they don't. We even had to set limits about candy purchases, or I feared neither would have any teeth by the time they entered middle school.

I felt that Harry was a big purchase for a kid with only five dollars in his current stash. But Curt seemed pleased with it and passed most of the afternoon with his sister following the package directions on how to make the miraculous hair grow. He even gave me a stern "talking to" when I nearly dumped out the magic "brain solution" that was supposed to make it grow faster.

Now, three-weeks later, after constant care and observation, Harry is hairy.

Maybe Curt's not so bad with money after all.

empowerment parenting money family empowerment responsibility