(03) 9020 2905Thankfully, my little DebtBoy can’t read yet. Because if he could, Mr Editor, I’d be giving you a good old-fashioned clip over the ears!
Today, my great fear is he’s going to choke on chocolate. There is simply no need to bring the red-suited fat bloke into his line of vision!
The other columnists have spelled out some good budgeting tips. So let me tell you what I’m going to do this Christmas.
Gen Xers spend less time with their kids than previous generations. Far more of us are two-income households. We rely on creches to look after our kids for much of the working week. They are “schooled” from age six months with, thankfully, professionals.
So, what do our kids really need from us? (Hint: the answer is most definitely not “more junk”.)
They need our time. Our time is priceless. But there isn’t a lot to spare.
So give them experiences for Christmas. Hopefully, some they will take through their lives.
For a start, I’m going to teach them how to jump fences. That’s both literal and metaphorical. I want to take them to a few places that their daddy used to go at their age, before the fences went up.
Hopefully, they’ll remember 2011 as “the Christmas Dad taught me to see what’s on the other side”. If I succeed, I’ll have taught them an awesome lesson – that some obstacles that are put in your way need to be jumped over.
And it won’t cost a cent. Unless someone has to post bail for me.
Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and a licensed financial adviser.