Money

When Vamsi was spending more time in the shower this morning, I scolded him for wasting the water and ordered him to come out immediately. While chiding him, I threw the usual parental tantrum saying "water is money". Surprisingly he gave it back to me saying, "money, money, money, everything is money?!". I have never said this to him before and the retort from Vamsi made me think once again about the oft asked question - 'Is money everything?".

It was important for Vamsi to know the importance of water in our lives, but, I should not have compared water with money, not because water is precious than money( in some sense it is), but because money as a means of comparison is unnecessary for him to know. May be I am wrong! Kids understand money as they know that it takes money to buy toys and gadgets.

Just about every decision we make and much of our personality is formed in some way, shape or form by our beliefs around money. It is an incredibly good/bad vehicle for seeing our issues and vulnerabilities and shows up in issues of control, safety, self esteem and well-being. It is the language kids and elders both understand and unfortunately has become the language of choice this morning when communicating with Vamsi.