The power of money

I was watching this movie on television the other day about this man who does whatever it takes to get money. To him money is power. He killed his own brother and even his wife to get what he wanted. This man didn’t allow anything or anyone to stop him.

Money is a source of power and status. People who make a lot of money also have a lot of money to spend. We always considered this to be a powerful people. A lot of money allows people to control other people as well.

Do we as parents realize that at an early age that kids recognize that having money to spend provides them with a feeling of power? It allows them to take control of a situation.

Teens learn this feeling of power from adults when they observe parents showing off their purchases or talking to neighbours about their new BMW. Teens quickly associate money with success and power.

Who are the most powerful people in the world? Bill Gates? President George Bush? Take a look at the well respected business magazine, Forbes. Each year Forbes releases a list of Top CEOs: Corporate Most Powerful People. The list is based on how much money each CEO makes during the preceding year.

Do you know that not all powerful people are rich; some have been very poor. Like our dear Mother Theresa, the nun who worked tirelessly to care for the world’s poorest and most desperate people. She did all these as it came from her courage and conviction and most importantly from the love of her heart.

So does money and power goes hand in hand? Is money powerful? What do we want to tell our teens? Let’s give a good thought about this.

Your teen buddy
Christina
www.RealSmarTeens.com

Want & Need

During one of our recent camp our students were taught the topic about Want & Need. All of them were enlightened after our camp as they know what are their want and need.

What is a Need?
In Wikipedia it is define as “A need is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a goal and the reason for the action, giving purpose and direction to behavior” . To put it simply a need is something that you have to have.

What is a Want?

This is how it is defined in Wikipedia, “A want is something desired, distinct from a need which is something that is necessary”. A Want is something that you would like to have.

Most teenagers spend their money on things that they want rather than on things they need. This is because we as the parents have been providing their basic needs for them. Today teens do not have to worry about most their needs and they probably get a lot of help in their wants too.

When our basic needs are satisfied, we tend to escalate wants into needs. For example if we haven’t had a meal for three days because you have no money to buy food, you absolutely know that a food is a need and the latest CD isn’t. But if we get food everyday and never have to think about being hungry, you probably will put great importance on the CD.

To me there’s nothing wrong with buying things we want as long as we do it moderately and keep it to a reasonable limit and keep our spending habits in perspective.

Let us think carefully about what we want and need. You will realize that most of the things we say we need are really things that we can live without.

Make a list of everything you think you need at this particular time. Then go over each item and really ask yourself if it’s a need or a want. Chances are you’ll discover the majority of the items on your lists are wants and not needs.

Thank you.

Christina Hue
www.RealSmarTeens.com