Mary: Did Angie know how to make a bed at eight years old?

Bette:  Not very well. It was Tina who would not let me go make it neater. Tina, said patience, with practice she will get better.  But if you go make it perfect, she will never learn. She will immediately depend on us to correct her mistakes. Fortunately, I listened. I did give her a few tips from time to time when she was expecting friends over. But she quickly learned what she needed to do. And by the following weekend, her room was picked up and her bed was made and there were no more missed activities because of undone chores.

Mary: So how did you handle money?

Bette:  When we went on vacation or to a place where the kids might want to do some shopping, we would give them some pocket money to buy what they wanted. We gave them a small allowance when they were young like about $5 per week. They could buy an ice cream when with their friends or they would have enough to say buy a hot dog and a soft drink if they went to a baseball game. For special occasions we gave them more. And if they wanted something extra, they would have to come to us and ask for additional funds. But we were always willing listeners and if their reasons for the item were reasonable, we granted them the extra money. The one thing that we may not have taught them is that most money comes from preforming services or providing products for others. We may have fallen short in that area.

Mary: Well, I believe they are aware of that even if they have not earned it themselves. The problem comes with those who do know how to make money is knowing how little that it actually buys. That takes experience and there is a shock value which cannot be taught.

Bette:  Yeah, I had some of those problems when I got out of school. I think Tina did too. But we were both lucky. We found financial success fairly early in our careers. And by the time we started our family, Melvin made a substantial contribution to our financial security.