The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money by Ron Lieber

THE OPPOSITE OF SPOILED is an extensive investigation into why kids are spoiled--and more importantly, what we can do to avoid that mistake.

There are lots of practical tips, interviews, and stories from families that have tried different methods to make your kids value work and spend their money wisely. For example, the author gives an example of one family that calculates the most fun per dollar spent on their recreation. The whole family gets together and discusses what's the best use of their money.

Ron notes that spoiled kids have four things in common. First, they don't have many chores; second they don't have any rules; thirdly they have lots of free time assistance; and fourthly, they have a lot of stuff.

Here are some other great ideas:

♦ It's important to talk to your kids about money matters; "Take out the bills and show them. Let them ask all the questions they want."

♦ Teach kids delayed gratification: "How to delay gratification is a key part of learning to handle money well... "Teaching our children the ability to wait is a big part of our overall goal, and what's most important about allowance is what will happen when they're too old to get one."

♦ It used to be that people compare themselves to others horizontally. But now it's possible to compare yourself vertically - that is against wealthy people.

♦ Studies have shown that kids who watch commercials are much more likely to want to play with a toy rather than with other kids. So the author recommends severely limiting watching of commercials.

♦ Encourage your kids to give money away: "Storing allowance money in a 'give jar' along with the 'spend' and 'save' ones will help. Its presence reminds younger children to think about causes they want to support."

♦ Use creative ways to help your kids enjoy and perform use for work: "Kids like to work and enjoy earning money, but we don't do a good enough job of encouraging there industrious this."  Kids have an instinct to work we just need to encourage it: "Our job, then, is to stoke that instinct to work and earn and see just how far their natural born industriousness takes them."

♦ Instill gratitude by having your family learn to say some type of grace before meals.

√ All in all, THE OPPOSITE OF SPOILED is a practical, encouraging book with lots of great ideas. At the end of the book is a "Notes" supporting the comments in the body of the book. There is also an extensive bibliography.