PLANNING FOR KIDS 5

"But don't begin until you count the cost. For who will begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, "There's the person who started that building and couldn't finish it." Luke 14: 28-30

In our discussions on this very important issue I have tried to advocate that laying a solid, workable plan for your kids BEFORE they are born is of prime importance and a strategic move. However I will like to address those of us who did not have the privilege of this kind of information and we have kids we did not strategically plan for. Notice I used the word strategically deliberately because many of us planned the number of kids to have and that was just it. No financial projections whatsoever.

So if you are like me who has 5 kids what do you do?

The first thing is to seat down and take stocks. You need to determine with your spouse you total family income from all sources including expected receivables. Once that is done you want to look at what your anticipated expenditure will be say if you were to put your kids in private schools as against public schools.

May I say this, much as one will desire to send his kids to private schools, unless your income is such that will be able to meet this responsibility it will be a better option to send them to good public institutions. There a few good public institutions and if you ask the right people you will find one that will not break your bank account.

Know that it is not only sending them to school that is prime importance, feeding and clothing them as well as giving them a roof over their heads is also crucial to their well being and optimal growth and devlopment.

Another thing you may need to seriously consider are alternatives! What do I mean? You do not need to always buy the very best or the most expensive things for your kids. there are always less expensive alternatives that you can afford. It does not make sense to try to be like the "Joneses" and ending up in debt.

I have heard parents say that they do not want their children to feel inferior to their mates and so they go over themselves to give them things they can ill afford. This attitude is counterproductive because whether you believe or not your children know what you can afford and what you cannot afford. Have they not heard you and your spouse quarrel over money in the past?

Another drawback to this attitude is that you are teaching your children to live beyond their means and this is the greatest challenge of the Nigerian middle class. The Middle class is not very poor but not so rich either. The dilemma of this class of people is that they want their children to compete children of the rich and they constantly stretch themselves to meet up with this demand.

This leads to many problems including a rising debt profile and high blood pressure.

It really does not matter if your kids go to a public school; what matter is for you to inculcate the attitude of hard work and scholarship in them. You may want to provide them with extra tutorials (lessons) to augment what they are taught in school.

Believe it or not the public schools still have the best teachers.

God bless you

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