Finance in the Home
201
one should think it beneath him to study economy and the best means
of taking care of the fragments
In the study of figures the work should be made practical. Let
every youth and every child be taught, not merely to solve imaginary
problems, but to keep an accurate account of his own income and
outgoes. Let him learn the right use of money by using it. Whether
supplied by their parents or by their own earnings, let boys and girls
learn to select and purchase their own clothing, their books, and other
necessities; and by keeping an account of their expenses they will
learn, as they could learn in no other way, the value and the use of
money
There is such a thing as giving unwise help to our children. Those
who work their way through college appreciate their advantages more
than those who are provided with them at someone else’s expense,
for they know their cost. We must not carry our children until they
become helpless burdens.
Parents mistake their duty when they freely hand out money to
any youth who has physical strength to enter on a course of study to
become a minister or a physician before he has had an experience in
useful, taxing labor
Habits of self-indulgence or a want of tact and skill on the part of
the wife and mother may be a constant drain upon the treasury; and
yet that mother may think she is doing her best because she has never
been taught to restrict her wants or the wants of her children and has
never acquired skill and tact in household matters. Hence one family
may require for its support twice the amount that would suffice for
another family of the same size.
The Lord has been pleased to present before me the evils which
result from spendthrift habits, that I might admonish parents to teach
their children strict economy. Teach them that money spent for that
which they do not need is perverted from its proper use
206
Testimonies for the Church 5:400
207
Counsels on Stewardship, 294
208
The Adventist Home, 387
209
The Adventist Home, 374, 375