Money Concerns Even Kids Understand

A while back I was shopping with my kids when we turned a corner and saw it looming large in our path. It. The big thing. The “must have”. The “can’t live without”. The “Oh please oh please can we mom?” “Please?” Honestly, I don’t even remember what “it” was, and neither do the kids, but I vividly remember four pairs of the sweetest, most persuasive eyes I’ve ever seen. I do remember that it was bright, it was plastic, it had a lot of moving parts, and it was made far away. I could see how badly they all wanted it, but I also saw other things, which I discussed with the kids.

It looks really cool, but it’s also solid plastic. Can you see how even the hinges and screws are plastic? Can you feel how thin and bendy it is? This part here is already off-center, just sitting on the store shelf. I wonder how long this plastic toy made so far away would survive four active kids. When this breaks soon, as it inevitably will, you will have spent nearly all your money and gotten the benefit of only a few days or hours of use. Once that money is gone, it’s gone. Would buying this toy be a wise or foolish use of your money?

By the end of the conversation, all four 7-year-olds agreed that they no longer wanted anything to do with “it”.

The lesson has stuck. When my kids see toys in the store these days, it’s not uncommon to see them doing a careful inspection of an item, assessing the composition, construction, materials, moving parts, origin, value for the money, and expected longevity. There are few pleasures greater as a parent than a lesson that bears fruit. I taste the fruit of this lesson every time a child turns to me and, following careful scrutiny, declares with certainty, “Mom, this would be an unwise use of my money.” It’s a lesson by which we live as a family. At no time more than today, in these days of runaway inflation, are purchases more carefully considered. Before a penny leaves a piggy bank, wallet, or bank account, we need to answer affirmatively but one simple question. Is this a wise use of my money?

Who among us doesn’t wish that our Federal government would exercise even a fraction of the careful consideration of finances that we employ at the individual or family level? 

While so many of us ponder purchases in the tens of dollars, the Federal government spends in the millions, and sometimes billions, as casually as if they were buying eggs. You may not know whether you’ll be able to afford an extravagance like fresh salmon for a special dinner, but the Federal government has $5 million to study the impact of culverts, roads, and bridges on said salmon. Many of us can no longer afford tickets to a museum, but $3 million has been earmarked for an LGBTQ museum in New York City. You may not be able to fill up your vehicle, but there is a $3 million fund out there for bee-friendly highways. Last, and perhaps most egregious, a whopping $410 million for border security, not here at home, but in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman. My kids have learned the lesson that my government never will. Is this a wise use of my money?

As long as they view the hard-earned money of the American people as their personal toy store, it will never stop. It’s up to us to impose the limits that the Swamp will never set for itself.

Article V of the Constitution offers a powerful weapon to the people, a weapon which, once wielded, could spell a return to the balance of power the Founders envisioned.

A Convention of States as provided for in Article V of the U.S. Constitution is a process used to amend the Constitution and place practical limits on the actions of the Federal government and its bloated bureaucracy.

The process is simple, but not easy. Two-thirds of the States must pass a resolution for a Convention. Once two-thirds (34 states) have been reached, Congress must call a Convention to discuss the proposed Constitutional Amendments.

Did you catch that?

Must! They don’t have a choice. Each State may send as many delegates as they choose to the Convention, but each State has just one vote. Each amendment must then be ratified by two-thirds (38) of the states in order to become a Constitutional Amendment.

The Resolution

The Resolution has already passed in 19 states and six more states have passed it in one of their two chambers. Several additional states are expected to take up the Resolution in 2022.

See the Convention of States website, sign the Petition and get involved. 

There is a path forward, and we think the time is now!