Bill Corbett

Our children today have little concept of money. They see us pull out “the card” for most of our purchases or drive up to the automated teller machine and press a few buttons to access what they think is an endless supply of cash. And when they see us purchasing luxuries such as a 42” plasma screen, the latest fancy cell phone, or a GPS for the car, they don’t understand why we won’t buy them the latest toy they want. For a moment, imagine this scene: an adult and child are in a store and the adult tells the child “no” to a purchase he wants. The child then throws himself on the floor in a fit because mom won’t buy him the toy. Mom then becomes upset because she begins to feel resentful that her child doesn’t seem to appreciate all that she’s done for him or purchased for him up to this point. In the back of her mind she is thinking about all she’s purchased in spite of the fact that she struggles to get by with the little money she brings in each month on her own. Her feeling of resen...