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Teaching children about debt should happen as early as possible.

TechnoBoy borrowed twelve dollars from me to buy some baseball cards (a new passion here in the EP household) a few weeks ago. He’s not a boy with high ambitions when it comes to money. He rarely does any of the paid chore opportunities that have been offered. I was getting a little concerned about the lack of effort being made to repay the debt when I recalled the following verse that is used as a foundational principal in the Financial Peace program.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower {becomes} the lender’s slave.

Proverbs 22:7 (New American Standard Version)

Heh heh heh. The borrower becomes the lender’s slave. Sounds like something that will work to everyone’s advantage in this situation.

So. This morning I stopped TechnoBoy and explained that there are plenty of paid chores available to be done this weekend so he can work off his debt, and that he could expect to be working upon request. Ohhhhhh he was not happy with me. You know what he said to me?? After a comment about how he shouldn’t have to work on Labor Day (and where he got THAT idea I’ll never know) he said:

“My friends wouldn’t make me work to pay back the money if I borrowed from them.”

I managed not to fall on the floor laughing. I simply repeated the verse to him and then said “Well I’m not your friend.”

I believe he retorted with something about how I’m his enemy, to which I said “No, I’m your mother” and wandered off. No point in getting into an argument when I’ve just succeeded in annoying him so completely.

I’m going to enjoy the victory and the completed chores, and I betcha it’s a long time before he borrows again.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents who care about their children’s financial success.