June 5, 2018 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com What You Can Learn From Children Dave Says By Daris Howard Teach Them While They’re Young Controlling Your Cash Dear Dave, My wife and I want to begin teaching our son how make a budget and live on one. He’s 16, and he has a part-time job and a handme-down car. Is this a realistic idea? Mike Dave RAMSEY Dear Dave, I work long hours, and I make pretty good money. The problem is the money from my paychecks always seems to disappear before the end of the month. I know part of the problem is grabbing quick meals between extra shifts, and eating out a lot after work, because I’m usually too tired to cook when I get home. How can someone who has very little free time start gaining control of their finances? Shelia Dear Mike, Your son is at a great point in life to learn how to make money behave. Even in his situation, when he’s still living at home, there are plenty of things he can include in a budget. There’s gas for his car, along with maintenance and insurance. He’ll need to save a little money — maybe even for college — and I’m sure he’ll want some Dear Shelia, No matter how little free time you think you have, or how tired you are, you must make time do a written budget every month. This is essential. Making a budget for the month ahead isn’t a lot of hard work, and it really doesn’t take long. When you give every dollar a name before the month begins, you’re taking control of your money instead of allowing a lack of it to control you. Start with the income you know is predictable. If that isn’t possible, look back over the last few months and find the minimum amount you brought home during a month over that period of time. This will be the basis for your budget. Once you’ve established a baseline income, you can write down and prioritize bills and other expenses. Just remember, restaurants are not a priority! When you make a prioritized spending plan, and start telling your money what to do ahead of time, you’ll have the ability to do what’s important with what you’ve earned! — Dave spending cash, too. Sit down, and teach him how to make a written budget by figuring out the upcoming month’s income and expenses ahead of time. Also, make sure he knows how to properly balance and reconcile his bank account. It’s still your responsibility to provide him with the basic necessities at this point. But I love your willingness to teach your son how to handle money intelligently. The sooner he learns some basic money management principles, the sooner he’ll be able to handle his finances responsibly in the real world! — Dave * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven bestselling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 12 million listeners each week on 575 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. finding the right job is easier than you think when you’ve got the right direction Stop searching. The Help Wanted section of the Missouri Valley Shopper lists many possible new job opportunities. Find a career that’s right for you. MV Shopper MV Shopper JOB OPPORTUNITY M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y NIGHT SHIFT POSITION Full Time Full Benefits Responsibilities include: operating truck scale, cattle unloading and cleaning duties. Call: 800-950-0164 or 402-482-5931 When I was asked to be the music teacher for all of the children in our congregation who were under twelve years old, I was scared to death. I had never led music before. In our church, we call the organization that works with children of that age “primary.” The woman who was the primary leader told me the most important thing was to just love the children. That was the one thing I knew I could do. I loved the children, and after I learned to let go of my fear of making a fool of myself, it became the greatest assignment of my life. That is not to say that I didn’t still make a fool of myself. I just learned that it didn’t matter to the children when I did. One spring I decided we should sing a few songs for the season. We had just finished singing a song about baby animals being born and how life was new, when a little four-yearold boy raised his hand. “Yes, Jeremy,” I said. “What do you want?” “Baby animals don’t just get born in the springtime,” he said. “That’s true,” I replied. “Baby animals are born all year long.” “Did you know our dog had puppies last fall?” Jeremy asked. “No, I didn’t,” I replied. “I’m sure that was a lot of fun.” “And I got to see baby chicks hatch this last winter,” Jeremy added. “They were all fuzzy and cute and barely fit in the egg.” “Watching a baby chick being born is really amazing, isn’t it?” I said. “I asked my dad how the baby chick got into the egg,” Jeremy said. “The eggs we eat don’t have any baby chicks in them. My dad explained to me all about how animals get born and why the baby birds were in there.” I was sure that this was quickly turning into a lesson on the birds and the bees, and that was the last thing I wanted to talk about during music time for children, especially at church. I decided that I should try to change the subject. “That’s nice that you and your dad had a good talk about it,” I said. “How about we sing another song about springtime?” “But don’t you want to know about how baby chicks get in the eggs?” Jeremy asked. “Well, that is probably something that is special and should be shared just between you and your dad,” I replied. But Jeremy was not to be dissuaded. He wanted to impart his newfound knowledge. “My dad said that when a person just has hens, there can’t be any baby chicks,” Jeremy said. “Did you know that?” “Uh, yes, Jeremy,” I replied, “I did know that.” “My dad said that a person has to have a rooster,” Jeremy said. “How about we sing a song about growing gardens and how God gives us sunshine and rain to make them grow?” I interjected. But Jeremy didn’t miss a beat. “That’s why we don’t have any eggs with chicks in them,” he said, “because we don’t have any roosters.” “That too bad,” I replied. “Well, let’s sing . . .” “So, you see,” Jeremy interrupted, “the eggs the hens lay don’t have baby chicks in them, and that’s why we eat those eggs. It’s only the eggs that roosters lay that have the baby chicks. I think that after our hens get old and die, the next time we should get all roosters so we can have rooster eggs and have baby chicks.” I smiled. “I guess you’ll have to take that up with your dad, Jeremy.” It truly is amazing the things a person can learn from children. Doc smiled and felt really good inside when he heard the familiar bird song. “Hey there, Wheezer,” he said, “happy spring!” For some reason, this mourning dove with the speech impediment comes around to Doc’s back yard every spring, and Doc thinks that’s just all right. If ol’ Wheez didn’t have that distinctive voice, Doc would never know if this bird favored his yard or was just another bird looking for a home. Let’s face it, Wheezer looks just like every other dove in town. But he was back and flirting with a good-looking lady dove up on the branches of the locust tree. Doc always wondered whether doves mate for life, and this was the same Mrs. Wheez he sees every year, or if Wheezer had to court a new lassie each spring. “I’ll have to look it up,” Doc said, knowing that he wouldn’t. But he did go over to the concrete block wall and clean out the crud from the hollow in the top block by the gate. Doc had put dirt in it years ago, and each spring, the Wheezer family hauled in twigs and grass and made a place to raise their family. And each spring, as Mrs. W. sat on her eggs, it would take Doc a few days before she would tolerate him coming and going through the gate. This was the dove family he was close to. They let him get right up to maybe a foot from the ugly little baby birds each spring, and he was careful never to move quickly or make a noise. That was his contribution, you see, to the putting together of the “Doves in the Concrete Block” family. Wonder how long doves live? Doc thought. Wonder how long old Wheezer will last? 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