Raising Rich Kids: Teaching My Sons About Success

I often think about the type of parent I am and want to be. I think about the ways my words, actions and responses shape my boys.

I think about things like grades. Honor came home with 99th percentile math test scores, and naturally, I wanted to jump across the table and dap him up and promise him treats and toys to celebrate.

But then I think again about extrinsic reward, including parent’s enthusiasm over excellence, and the effects that has on children. Versus intrinsic reward like asking him what he can do with his knowledge, how he used it to problem solve, if he helped anyone in his class learn what he knew.

He asked me the other day what rich means. I said, “to have a lot of something.” He said, “I thought it meant to have a lot of money.” I said, “It can mean money, but it’s much richer 😉 than that. More importantly, you can be rich in love, rich in compassion, rich in friendship, rich in knowledge. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said.

That’s the type of parent I want to be. A parent who teaches them what it means to be rich and how to share the wealth.