Oftentimes, we hear people say, “I want to give my kids the best.”

And oftentimes, too, giving the BEST would come in the form of expensive toys and clothes, and education in private or exclusive schools.
“I want to build a better future for my family,” so they would say. And ironically, parents would have to leave their children behind in pursuit of this dream. We see so many incomplete families these days --- mothers or fathers, or both, working abroad, leaving their kids to the care of grandparents or close relatives or even friends.

In a way, I think we are teaching our kids the wrong values. We allow them to see, through us, that being wealthy and powerful is important… that belonging to the “in” crowd is essential to one’s existence. In a way, we are teaching them that money can buy happiness.

For me, true happiness does not thrive in material things. Rather it is attained by:
1) living simply
2) counting your blessings and sharing them
3) being generous without counting the cost or expecting anything in return

Maybe if teach our kids these things, we’d have happier children with a better future.