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Explaining difficult times to children

Tips for enlisting their help

by Susan Newman, Ph.D. | 767 views | 0 comments | Rate this now!

Children have surprising suggestions. Recently I heard a friend’s young children offer ways to save the family money:

1.) Let’s rent movies instead of going to the movies.

2.) We can make our own pizza.

3.) I can stop my ballet lessons for a while.

4.) We can take shorter showers, added my friend’s astute 11-year-old who understood it costs money to heat water.

Children are more willing to help than parents imagine, and will help more when they feel they have a say in a decision or it was their idea. The feeling of “we’re in this together” creates cooperation, hopefulness, and determination. As parents we all want our children to be happy all the time, but that isn’t real life. Once we are on the other side of the downturn, we can feel good that we’ve helped our children be more resilient, be able to bounce back when the family works together, and most of all, be grateful for what we have.

About the Author

Susan Newman is a social psychologist and the author of 13 books about parenting, family issues and relationships. For details, check out her websites: www.susannewmanphd.com and www.thebookofno.com. Susan blogs for Psychology Today Magazine at: Singletons - http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/singleton.