Raising Sensible Children

Dear Friends and Family,

Bobos in Paradise. I read about half of it before becoming distracted and reading Hunger Games and, now, Game of Thrones. There's only so much, why yes, that's me. Uh huh, that's me. Oh, I didn't realize, that's me that you can do before you tire of a book. I'm sure it reaches some logical conclusion. And, at some point when I run out of books to read, I may pick it up again.

But, it raises some important points. I think Bobos raise their children differently. I love providing for P, but I work to ensure I'm raising an independent child who at some point in her life can function as a contributing member to society. We talk about money. We talk about work. We talk about sharing with people who aren't as fortunate.

There's a school tour we went on looking at schools for P for next year. And, I'm liking it less and less because I feel like the student body is filled with kids of civic leaders, doctors, bankers, lawyers, and consultants. Not saying they're not sensible, but it just doesn't feel grounded to me.

What brought all of this to a head? A conversation with my sister last night. She's so grounded and her husband's great, but she's fighting a constant battle with her parents-in-law. Not grounded. Not sensible.

Not Bobos.

I understand they studied hard and work hard. I'm not saying they didn't earn their money nor am I saying they don't deserve the life they've chosen to live. But, their way of arming the grandkids for the future is by setting up trust funds.

Perhaps is easy for me to say. P's not a trust fund baby. We don't have the resources for her to be one even if we wanted to. But, I honestly feel, smarts and resilience and empathy and patience and ambition are better tools to arm P with for her future than money. Money can run out. The means to earn it hopefully is a more durable asset.

I'm glad my nephew has my sister for his mom. She's determined to make sure he's got more than a trust fund to count on when he turns 18.


Cheers!
mouse