By James Abola
In Summary
Many rich parents worry about whether their
children will fall in the future group of ‘haves’ or ‘have-nots.’ Yet
many also forget that the guidance they give these children is what
determines the future.
Sometime back, a gentleman I had not seen for
close to 10 years called at my office; I was happy to engage with him
after such a long time while he, on the other hand, had sought me out
because of what he had read and heard about my services as a consultant
and coach.
After we finished discussing the business need
that he had mentioned at the beginning of the meeting, he brought up one
more issue.
I later realised this was the main issue that had
brought the gentleman to my office; one of his children had completed
his university degree two years before but failed to find employment.
It pained me that a retired dad still had to be now making the rounds to attempt to pry open the doors of opportunity for his son.
It pained me that a retired dad still had to be now making the rounds to attempt to pry open the doors of opportunity for his son.
The experience of this parent reminds of me of the
quote attributed to President Museveni when he spoke at the formal
opening of the Acacia Mall in Kampala. According to
www.chimpreports.com: “Another problem Museveni noticed was, rich
Ugandans producing stupid children. This has become an epidemic now.”
“Some people work hard and put together a lot of
wealth, but they bring forth stupid children who come and squander all
the hard-earned wealth.
These too should learn from how the Mukwano family
have continuously maintained and multiplied their wealth through the
generations,” the President is quoted to have said.
Some people were annoyed by the president’s
remarks but I think there is some element of truth in it. My view though
is not that rich people (you may include educated people in that lot
too) produce stupid children but rather that rich or educated people
tend to raise financially ignorant and emotionally unintelligent
children.
The rich parent
Being rich or well educated provides a parenting disadvantage.
Being rich or well educated provides a parenting disadvantage.
The very advantage that the rich have of being
able to afford life’s comfort becomes a distinct disadvantage when they
need to motivate their children to be interested in education or wealth
creation.
When the now rich fellow was a child, their family
was perhaps poor and used a papyrus mat for a mattress; at that point
it was not hard to get the motivation to be able to afford a mattress
when one is grown up.
A rich person cannot use the same “work to escape from poverty” motivation that his or her parents used.
Motivation is an aspect of emotional intelligence.
Whether rich or poor, all parents should strive to develop the
emotional intelligence of their children or dependants.
In addition to developing motivation, parents need
to develop the other domains of emotional intelligence, namely: the
self-awareness of the children so that they can be self-confident
without being arrogant; the self-regulation of the children in areas
such as self-control, personal responsibility and trustworthiness;
social awareness in areas such as empathy and service orientation; and
social skills in areas such as communication, leadership and conflict
management.
Financial literacy
Financial literacy is the other area which the rich parents ought to emphasise to their children. It is possible or even easy for children to think that money is easy to get and sustain.
Children need to know how money works in the
world: how someone manages to earn or make it, how that person manages
it, how he/she invests it (turn it into more) and how that person
donates it to help others
Financial literacy is the other area which the rich parents ought to emphasise to their children. It is possible or even easy for children to think that money is easy to get and sustain.
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