Uh…oh…. I Was Just Yelled At

Can anyone relate to the following?

Remember back when we you were young and either your mother or father would try to get you to save electricity by saying…

“Turn the light off when you’re done. Do you think we own the power company?”
“We don’t have stock in the power company, turn the lights off.”
“Every light in this house is on. Do you think we get paid by the power company to have our lights on?”

Or probably a dozen variations of the above?

My son is only 4 so I changed the above sayings around a little bit to make it more age appropriate.

“Make sure you turn the light off when you are done. That way, we save electricity and save money.”

My son would go and turn the light off because I told him to, but I’m sure the second sentence would always go over his head. I figure, if I keep reminding him about these things I could hopefully instill some frugal traits in him.

Well, low and behold, my son went into the bathroom and I had left the light on from the last time I went in there. I was washing dishes and I could hear him telling me…

“Momma…you left the light on in the bathroom. You need to turn it off to save money.”

I didn’t know whether to be embarassed because a 4 year-old is telling a 29 year-old how to save money, or whether to be proud of my young son for listening to what I say and learning.

I’ll just be a proud momma

Posted by Tricia on September 24, 2006 at 11:29 AM in Kids & Money | 7 Comments »
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WH responded:
Posted: September 24th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Congrats…it sounds like you’ve got a $ savvy son in the making! My mom drummed things like that into me as a kid too, but I think what really made it work for me was seeing her practice what she preached.
Chitowngirl responded:
Posted: September 25th, 2006 at 11:18 am
That is an awesome story. Some smart little boy is definitely listening to his mommy. =)
Tricia responded:
Posted: September 26th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
WH – yeah…it was a big “Doh!” on my part because I left the light on. At the same time, it did give him the opportunity to show me what he’s learned.

Chitowngirl – my son amazes more and more each day. He is such a little mini-me
Play Library » Carnival of Family Life #21 at Play Library responded:
Posted: October 2nd, 2006 at 9:02 am
[...] Tricia at Blogging Away Debt reminds us to TURN THE LIGHTS OFF! Even her four-year-old knows that already. [...]
Kailani responded:
Posted: October 2nd, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I totally have that drilled into my head from my childhood!

Here via Carnival of Family Life.
Mary (Mert) responded:
Posted: October 3rd, 2006 at 12:14 pm
You should be proud! :O) But the question remains… did you turn it off? ;O)
Susan (5 Minutes for Mom) responded:
Posted: October 5th, 2006 at 3:49 am
Definitely be proud!!!

That is so great that he’s actually listening to wha t you say. How cute!