Fathers and Finances

       My husband and I have been thinking a lot about his future career lately. It's been a difficult decision for him. He really values being able to spend time with our family and getting the chance to teach our children. He also hopes to always enjoy his job. Never feeling like he is working for money, but rather working to enjoy and have time with his family.
      I think that it's important that in decisions like this a couple works together to find a solution. Whatever a father chooses to do with his career will have a huge impact on the family. A father in today's society will more often than not be gone for at least 45 hours a week working if not more. Because of this dynamic often the father feels stressed and when he comes home he just wants to relax, but because his family hasn't seen him all day they want to spend time with him. It can often make a father feel like he never gets a break. That's why a family should council together about how they want to spend their time they have together. This way everyone feels a part of the family and isn't stressed by outside forces on the family.
      I also think it's important for all of the family to be involved in finances. As a family works together to balance their finances and meet their needs they learn to council together. They learn how to work together, to make decisions together, and they strengthen their bonds. It also allows for the children to learn from their parents good spending habits, and how to manage money. It would be a good idea for parents to allow their children to be in charge of one aspect of the family budget. I once knew a family that every month the children where in charge of deciding what the family would do with the "fun money". Any extra fun family activities they were in charge of planning and budgeting for. as they got older their parents added responsibilities including their clothing budget. I could see how this helped each of their children learn how to responsibly handle their money and be frugal.
     I challenge you to find a way to involve all of your family members in your families finances. See how can you use this as an opportunity to teach your children. See how this can be an opportunity to come together as a family.