What’s more important in a family? Kid’s or Finances?

About the Author

Bert Antonik

It's amazing how much more creditable I have become in the eyes of my children as they have gotten older with kids of their own.

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Don’t expect a deep insightful diatribe trying to make arguments to persuade you one way or the other. Some things are just a “No Brainer”, and yet it’s remarkable how many otherwise intelligent people don’t get it. What’s more important in a family? Kid’s or Finances? The answer is obvious. It’s the …

Why did you come here looking for the answer? Don’t you know? Or, are you just trying to validate your belief with a confirmation? But what if the answer I espouse does not validate your thoughts? Then what do you do?

First of all let me explain how the original question came up.

As I was preparing to write this week’s family article I had two topics to chose from. One relates to saving money in the family budget and the other is about a fantastic new resource for little boys around the world. (Sorry girls, it’s not that “Opa Bert“ isn’t thinking about you, it’s just the way things come up. I promise I’ll have something exciting for you very soon. My 13 and 3-year-old grand daughters would never forgive me otherwise.)

Hummm … now I have three topics to write about!
· An interesting fun and educational resource for little boys.
· The activity for little girls to rival the fun the boys are having. And,
· How to get more and pay less to boost the family budget.

Back to the dilemma, which topic should I address first. Which is more timely and is one more important than the other? After all, aren’t we facing a chicken versus the egg quandary? If a family is going to provide resources for the benefit of a child, doesn’t it stand to reason that it has to be within the financial means of the family? Wouldn’t that logically mean that family finances are therefore more important? Can you see how intuitive knowledge about a thing like kids vs. money can get twisted?

Ok, enough of this rambling. I’m on the side that says Children are more important than trying to etch a family budget in stone. I’m not saying be frivolous and spend way beyond your means. I’m saying I can’t imagine a parent that is not willing to sacrifice something for the benefit of their child.

No mater what scholarly arguments are made to try and justify the indefensible, the fact remains. A family budget is all about controlling spending. Therefore, by definition, if you control spending it means that spending is discretionary. Discretionary means you must make a choice. Choice requires a value judgment, and that means making a decision about … what is more important? Spending a few bucks on a great resource for the boys and girls or strictly maintaining the budget?

If you can’t wait until next week to read about the resources I’m hinting about, go ahead and check out my profile on the “WorldVillage Blogger Network”. You may be able to figure out what’s coming next.