Some time ago my sister shared something with me that I benefited greatly from in teaching my children about money.  It seems ingrained in our heads and we say without even thinking about when asked by children, "Can we have that?"  What's your most common response?  Mine was always, "We don't have money for that" or even better, "We can't afford that."  How about you, something similar?

I never realized how that simple phrase can actually cause some very real harm.  For my sister, it caused great fear as a child.  She would constantly worry, "If we don't have money, where are we going to live?" , "If we don't have money, will mommy and daddy stay together?", "What will happen to me if we don't have money?" 

As she shared this with me, I was completely stunned.  I never in a million years wanted my children to experience those fears, yet I had already started saying the old adage myself, "We don't have money for that." 

Instead, I've started saying, "We're not spending our money on that."  Isn't it amazing how just changing those few little words can make such a big difference?  Now, it's a choice we're making (instead of poverty , in the eyes of my children) and what lessons I look forward to teaching about God's provisions and making godly decisions with what He has blessed us with.  We all have some money, it's up to us to teach our children to make good choices with what we have.