Cover image: custom SVG illustration, rendered to PNG
"Today's Child, Tomorrow's Debtor"
In a market, a ten-year-old boy was throwing a tantrum in front of his father.
"Baba, I don't care. I want this remote control car. My friend has the same one."
The father nervously checked his pocket. "Not now, beta. It's the end of the month..."
The boy had tears in his eyes, and he made a threat: "No! I want it today! Otherwise I won't go to school, and I won't eat anything."
With a defeated heart, the father bought the car. Once they left, the shopkeeper turned to a friend standing nearby and said with a smile:
"Today's child is tomorrow's debtor. He doesn't know money doesn't grow on trees."
For the shopkeeper it was probably just a routine remark, but it kept echoing in my head. Today's child, tomorrow's debtor. A child who learns that every wish must be fulfilled right now will one day take loan after loan to keep fulfilling them, and end up standing exactly where that father stood, only deeper in debt.
Why Don't Our Children Understand?
After that day, I kept asking myself why this keeps happening to us. Why don't our children understand the situation at home?
The answer turned out to be simple. They don't understand because we never taught them.
Our education system teaches children arithmetic, but not finance. A child knows that Rs. 1,000 minus Rs. 500 leaves Rs. 500. He doesn't know that if those Rs. 500 are saved today, they can grow into something much bigger tomorrow.
The power of compounding
Compounding means your money earns returns, and then those returns earn returns of their own. It looks slow at first and becomes powerful with time. The "Rule of 72" gives a quick estimate: divide 72 by the yearly return rate to get roughly how many years it takes money to double. At 12% a year, money doubles in about 6 years. The real lesson for a child isn't the formula. It's that time is the biggest ingredient, and the earlier you start, the more it works for you.
A Rs. 500 Experiment
One father tried an experiment with his son. He called his 12-year-old and said:
"From today, I'll give you a monthly 'salary' of 500 rupees. The only condition is that your pocket money, snacks and small wishes all come out of it."
Month one: the boy spent everything in three days. His father didn't give him a single extra rupee, so the rest of the month was very hard for him.
Month two: he spent carefully, made it to the end of the month, and treated breaking even as a huge victory. His father praised him a lot for it.
Month three is where it got interesting. The boy went to an elder in the family and asked:
"Uncle, can I give this money somewhere so it grows and becomes more?"
That father taught his son one of life's biggest lessons. He didn't hand the nation another stressed, indebted man of the future. He raised someone who might one day lend to others. Today the boy is thinking about investment. Tomorrow he might be running a business.
A Culture of "Buy Now, Be Happy Now"
That's how it should be. In our society, the exact opposite is happening.
Sometimes I feel we're living in a culture of instant gratification. Advertisements keep telling us:
"Buy it!"
"Be happy now!"
"Grab the deal!"
We fall for it so innocently, and then we pass the same habits on to our children. Could this be the root of so many financial problems in our society?
Delayed gratification
Delayed gratification means resisting a smaller reward now for a bigger or better one later. It's famous because of the Stanford "marshmallow test" in the 1960s–70s, where children could eat one marshmallow immediately or wait and get two. Early follow-ups linked waiting with better life outcomes. Later research showed that a child's environment and family background explain a lot of that difference. Children learn to wait when they grow up in an environment that teaches and rewards waiting, so it's a skill, not just a personality trait. That's exactly why parents matter here.
Doctors and Engineers, but Not Financially Free
Look at the irony. Our school books have no chapter on saving or budgeting, yet almost every child can name branded shoes from memory. Our education knows how to produce doctors and engineers, but not financially independent citizens.
Financial literacy isn't a compulsory subject in our schools, and there's hardly any mainstream program that teaches children small, practical ways to save and invest. We're preparing the next generation for jobs, not for financial self-reliance and money management.
That's what I mean by prisoner generations: people who are educated, employed, and still trapped, because their salary belongs to their debts before it even arrives.
Does Your Child Know?
Now let's come down to ground reality. Ask yourself:
- Does your child know how the household bills get paid?
- Does he know how much effort goes into earning your salary?
- Does he know the difference between price and value?
For most of us the answer is no, because what we usually tell our children is:
"Beta, don't worry about money. Just focus on your studies."
I think that approach is wrong. What we should teach them is: "Care about money the right way, so you can study well." If a child realizes how hard his heavy school fee is to earn, he'll take his education far more seriously.
Price vs value
Warren Buffett put it simply: "Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." Something can be expensive and give you very little, or cheap and give you a lot. A child who learns to ask "What am I actually getting for this?" before "How much does it cost?" has already learned the core of smart spending.
Try This With Your Child
Here's a small practical exercise. Take your 8–10 year old to the market, give him some money, and say:
"Beta, today you'll buy the fruit for our home. Try to save money, but the fruit has to be good."
Trust me, the son you thought was too simple and innocent to understand the world will surprise you. He'll ask every shopkeeper questions, compare prices, and feel proud of his decision. That will be his first financial success, and after enough experiences like this, he might grow up to be a better trader than you.
You just have to give him the field.
Let Them Make Mistakes
So here's today's message: teach your children financial freedom.
Don't keep them away from money by getting stuck on "are we rich or poor?" Instead, give them small, light responsibilities and let those build their personality. Give them the concept of earning. Assign small tasks so they learn the value of hard work.
Most importantly, allow them to make mistakes. If your child wastes money on something useless, don't scold him. Ask him questions instead:
- "What do you think now, was that the right decision?"
- "Write down the point where things went wrong and caused this loss."
- "What will you do differently next time?"
That one financial mistake will become his greatest teacher.
These are small things, but on them you can build a financial mindset inside your child, a structure that keeps him safe and free for the rest of his life.
A Question for Every Parent
The child who learns to handle Rs. 5 today is the one who becomes capable of handling lakhs tomorrow.
The real question is what you are giving him. Are you only giving him money, or are you also teaching him how to manage it and grow it?
Every parent needs to ask themselves this question.