The idea of the article is correct. My daughter and I try to teach her from an early age not to wait for everything to be bought for her, but to first think about what she can do on her own with the money she has. I have said "don't ask anyone" many times.
My girls are still little, but I’ve started doing the same thing Kostas mentioned. Instead of buying every toy they point at, we sit down and figure out what they can save their allowance for. The “don’t ask anyone” line is gold; it’s already cut down on the constant “Daddy can you get me…” at our house.
My girls are teens now, but I wish I’d started the “don’t ask anyone” rule earlier like Kostas and James. When they were little I’d cave and buy the extra stuff, then wonder why they kept expecting it. Now we talk about what they can earn or save from their own money first, and it’s made a real difference in how they handle disappointment.
Yeah, that “don’t ask anyone” rule is gold once you stick to it. We started it late with our boy too and saw the same shift — suddenly the eye-rolling over “no” turned into him figuring out pocket-money trades. Did your girls ever push back hard at first, or did it click pretty quick?
I started something similar with my granddaughter when she was about ten – we called it “your money first” and it stopped the constant “but Mum…” pretty fast. She still remembers the summer she saved up for those fancy headphones instead of expecting them. Did yours ever come up with clever little side jobs around the house to earn extra?
