The 4 Agreements of Teaching Kids Financial Abundance

Some parents want to pass along positive, abundance-centered money beliefs to their children. Recently, more and more parents are becoming aware that their negative money beliefs and baggage have resulted in their lives being filled with financial problems. Maybe you have learned this from spiritual teachings that are in alignment with abundance, law of attraction materials/workshops, and/or financial gurus such as "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," Robert Kiyosaki, etc.

Unless parents actively teach financial abundance mentality to their children, the children will be destined for a life filled with one financial crisis after another. Parents want to draw "a line in the sand" and want to raise their children with a financial abundance mentality rather than a poverty mentality.

You can teach financial abundance to your children even while you are still on your own path of moving from financial crisis to financial abundance, by becoming aware of the 4 Agreements about teaching your children about money and financial abundance. Let's take a look at the 4 Agreements of teaching your kids about financial abundance:

1. All abundance is good.

We all have the possibility of enjoying abundance of every kind - and abundance of spirituality, creativity, emotional health, relationships, love, joy, physical health, and yes - financial abundance. Financial abundance is just as important as the other types of abundance.

No one would suggest that a person should be able to have "a good life" with just financial and physical abundance, but without spiritual abundance. And yet, society tries to persuade us (often) that "a good life" should still be possible if you have every other piece of the pie - except finances.

One reason for this is the long-perpetuated myth that "money is the root of all evil," which is a misquoted Bible scripture. The Bible scripture actually says that "love of money" is the root of all evil, which really means that loving money to the exclusion of the other kinds of abundance will lead to an empty dark life, which is true.

In order to impart this to your children, you must be on the look out for evidence of this myth in your own life, and point out the positive alternative to your children. For example, society loves to portray wealthy people as shallow, self-centered, egotistical, love-less, unhappy, emotional failures. Remind your children (and yourself) that lots of financially wealthy people are happy, healthy, spiritually rich, humble, helpful, joy-filled people.

And, the corollary to this Agreement is: The financial abundance of others is good. Replace jealously with praise for them, gratitude for your current financial blessings, and gratitude for your future financial abundance.

2. Desiring things - having preferences - is all good.

Again, our old negative money baggage will usually rear its ugly head over this financial abundance belief. But, in truth, your children saying, "I want," is a good thing. We all want. We want happiness, we want shelter and comfortable surroundings and circumstances, we want growth, we want peace, we want rewards, we want rest, we want our favorite people, places and things. Wanting is good.

But, this is where poverty-consciousness parents say things like, "Who do you think we are, the Rockefellers?" And, poverty-consciousness parents think things like, "My children will become a spoiled brat if I got him/her everything they want."

What do abundance-mentality parents say? Well, they don't say, "OK, I'll get it all for you." Abundance-mentality parents DO say, "Yes, that shrimp appetizer and lobster main course sure sound delicious, and those shiny sneakers look great, and that diamond bracelet looks gorgeous. I can see why you like them!"

Desire is good. Desire keeps people active in life, and enthusiastic about life. Desire is real - and a good - part of this human experience that all of us "spiritual beings" are participating in. It's part of the reason that we're here.

Now, how the negative baggage demon keeps well-meaning parents in the poverty-conscious arena, is by telling parents that their children will never "be grateful" or "appreciate money" if they "want" things. That's a lie.

"Gratitude" is a completely separate animal from "desire." Gratitude gets taught at a heart-level, on a spiritual-level, not on a financial level. Gratitude covers all of the areas of life (spirituality, health, emotions, creativity, love, relationships, and joy). If your gratitude only exists when there's financial lack, or financial prosperity, either way, your gratitude is short-lived and not very deeply rooted.

So, rest assured, your children can know gratitude (in all aspects of life) and have desires too.

3. Work-ethic teaches lots of things, but it doesn't teach financial abundance or about how money works.

Working "hard" at various tasks has all sorts of benefits. The Law of Attraction community usually likes to point out that we shouldn't work hard, because it supposedly lowers our "vibration" (of joy). But that's not necessarily so, and that's not what I mean by "working hard."

Working hard means doing some physically taxing task, some menial task, some effort that is connected with a joyous long-term goal but which "feels" boring or difficult now. See, working hard causes growth of all sorts - physical, emotional, determination, self-discipline, inner strength, etc.

No athlete becomes great without hard work. Stress causes growth. What is important to remember (and where many people go wrong) is that hard work does not need to be filled with drudgery.

Hard work that is combined with a joyful spirit of determination and gratitude toward a common good, or a calling, or a goal, is a very gratifying experience that builds a person's character and energy (and raises their vibration) so that when he/she has goals or challenges in the future, he/she will have the self-confidence and internal strength to go through it with gratitude, faith and joy.

This is why "hard work," and a "good work ethic" is important to our children - not for the financial abundance that it brings, but for the character and inner strength that it builds for life's future missions.

4. Giving is good.

The opposite of giving - hoarding - is viewed in abundance-mentality circles as negative. Spiritually, hoarding is opposite to sharing blessings. In Law of Attraction circles, hoarding is connected with lower fear and jealousy vibrations. With the financial gurus, hoarding stops the flow of investing and investment returns that keeps a strong economy - and your own financial picture - thriving.

Giving keeps the "energy" of money flowing. Giving "sows" money into another person's life. Giving affirms that money is just a thing, or a vehicle, it is not our ego, not our love, not our God, not our faith or security. Giving recognizes that money is just a tool to be used in life for all sorts of things - including helping others.

Just because we use money to help others does not mean that we should stop helping others on a one-to-one basis, it is just an additional tool. Giving is a symbol of our "gratitude" for all that has been given.

Giving, especially to some Christians, is also a recognition that all of life's blessings are from God, and are not our creation, so our money should be shared because we are just a steward of it, rather than its sole creator. In other words, giving helps keep our ego "in check," and helps keep our spirit grateful, humble, and gracious.

(c) Copyright 2008 Theresa A. Markham, Esq.