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Talking To Kids About the Economy

Under normal circumstances, healthy early adolescents are oblivious to most of what is going on outside of their own social realm.  Politics are something that parents think about while kids hyper-focus on who they are going to sit with in the cafeteria at lunch or who did or didn’t decorate their locker on their birthday.  Fourth-world poverty and even war can seem unreal and irrelevant to a 13 year old, unless world crises affect their day-day lives. 

But these are not normal circumstances. In the past few months, I have seen an atypical amount of worrying and anxiety about the economy on the part of our middle school students.  This is because, of course, it is hitting home.  We are all, to some extent, concerned about our financial wellbeing.  As parents we may want to believe that our children are unaware of our worries.

While unconcerned about the philosophy of world economic trends, children are keenly aware of anxiety in parents and changes in parent’s behavior, schedules and moods.
Children notice when parents are working less, or not working at all.  They notice the hushed tones of parents discussing housing prices and the affordability (or not) of living in Rye.  I have had numerous conversations with kids in the past month or so about their worries about their family’s well-being.  Unfortunately, their worries can become magnified because of the secrecy (It must be really, really bad because they won’t tell me).

Of course, we can’t tell children everything, partially because we often don’t know for sure ourselves what is going to happen.  However, we can help to calm fears by having well-thought out conversations with our children about what’s going on.  We can use these conversations as an opportunity to reassure children that we are in control (even if we don’t feel that way) and will be taking care of them, no matter what.

The other opportunity that this crisis provides is the chance to revisit core values.  Since many families have to cut back somewhere, priorities are re-examined.  Parents can use this time to stress to children that what is most important in life are people, not things.  This may be a great time to walk more, instead of driving, and to stress to kids the multiple benefits of walking.  The current economy may force us to cook more and eat and home together more-another great opportunity to emphasize the value of being at home together.  The silver lining of this economic transition may just be that families pull together, reinforce humanitarian values, and feel more connected with the struggles of people everywhere.

The most important aspect talking to kids about money is reassuring them that the adults will take care of them-no matter what.  Then they can be free to go back to obsessing about the lunchroom.

To discuss this, or any other topic, in greater detail, please feels free to contact the Rye Youth Council.  Sara Braun, Middle School Youth Advocate: sbraunryc@optonline.net

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/511224

http://www.aap.org/disasters/pdf/tips-parentsCaregivers.pdf

http://www.mvparents.com/idea-bank/raising-kids-material-world

http://usa.momslikeme.com/members/JournalActions.aspx?g=625763&m=4068310