The Borrower is SLAVE to the Lender
January 28th, 2008 by Ana
Dave Ramsey often quotes the proverb: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Last Wednesday while in the post office, my son asked if he could borrow some money until today (when I pay him for his chores). For the past five days, I have been trying to make this proverb as real as possible to my teenager son. In fact, after we were done at the post office and got back into the car, Dave Ramsey quoted it on the radio as soon as we turned on the car!
I warned my son: Mom is worse than any loan shark could think of being. Mom will charge an interest rate that would make payday loan places cringe. Son will be Mom’s wage slave for a period of five days, unless Mom feels she didn’t get her money’s worth in which case that period of slavedom will be extended. (Is slavedom even a real word? Eh, who cares…he didn’t ask!)
To my son’s credit, he has put up with all my demands in good humor. To my credit, I haven’t made him scrub the bathroom with an old toothbrush. The dishes have been done, the kitchen floor is clean, and the aluminum cans have been stomped as soon as I mention it. So how did I accomplish this with a teenage son who tries every delaying tactic known to man and boy when it comes to chores?
I threatened to get up before he goes to school, take him to school in the cute OLD purple pickup, while dressed in my purple robe and slippers…and make him wear a Roman-style slave placard around his neck that says “I borrowed money from Mom so I am now her work slave.” Yes, I am actually enjoying this LOL
Hopefully my son is NOT enjoying this! I want my child to learn on the gut-level that borrowing is bad, so he should only borrow in extreme cases when there is just no other option available. I don’t want my son to make the same money mistakes I did when I first became an adult and got into debt. I don’t want him to live crisis-by-crisis and hand-to-mouth. I want him to be confident and competent with money. I also want him to know, down on the cellular level, that work equals money and money equals work.
So far my son has kept up his end of the bargain, and not complained about the chores. I’m not sure if he is developing a sense of pride about it, or if I just didn’t make the chores unpleasant enough. Perhaps I should have made him clean the baseboards around the kitchen with a scrubby sponge…but then again he has asked to go to his school’s lock-in on Friday night, so I can always tell him that chore will be a way for him to earn extra money! “Overtime” work equals extra money. The sooner he learns these things, the better off he will be once he becomes an adult man.
Posted in family, Dave Ramsey, debt |
January 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I love the purple truck. You could take me to school in it any time you like.
I like this idea. I’ve started to work on the work=money with my six year old son. He doesn’t quite get it though.
What’s a lock-in?
January 28th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Ruby: A lock-in is where we parents drop the kiddos off at school by a certain time in the evening, with school personnel as chaperones, and then they lock the doors to keep the little monsters contained all night. We then pick up the sleep-deprived offsprung at a certain time in the morning.
Usually after the child leaves, hubby and I look at each other and holler “PARTY!!!!” LOL so son has a good chance of going if he earns the money to pay for it.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am
LOL! Work slave! That is classic! I applaud your ability to use this as a life lesson to your son. It is a short term thing and one that hopefully stays with him throughout his life!
January 28th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Um, perhaps I do not understand because I don’t have kids.
Why didn’t you just say “No”?
When I was young, I had chores and I had an allowance. Borrowing money was absolutely out of the question!
January 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I didn’t say “No” because I saw an opportunity for a life lesson. It is much better that he learn from me than from a credit card or a payday loan place.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Awesome, Ana! I admire your parenting abilities. I hope I have the same abilities when we have kids.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
As soon as you borrow, your butt belongs to someone else. I’ll take piece of mind over a house full of junk anyday.
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
[…] *DebtFREE Revolution - The Borrower is SLAVE to the Lender […]
February 12th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Worrying about payments all the time is no way to live. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. I’ll take peace of mind any day..
March 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
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June 6th, 2008 at 4:01 am
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