I’ve been reading the advice of some of the debt “gurus”. Some of it is great, much of it similar to mine, all of it given with good intention. To be frank, I found some of it distinctly uninspiring.

There are different ways to get out of debt. I see the advice to live frugally (beans and rice, rice and beans) and get another job being repeated often. This is fine for people who can pay their debt off in a year or less, but what about the others? What about people who are likely to take 3 years or more to climb out of debt? What happens to the children of those parents who are in a lot of debt and how will this frugality affect them in later years?

If you look up synonyms for the word frugality you find abstinence, parsimony, prudence, self-denial, economy and stinginess. That’s quite a mixed bag! It would be hard for children brought up frugally to learn beliefs and habits that will lead them to be prosperous adults. They will learn not to get into debt, to be risk-averse and to be safe rather than follow their dreams. What do you want to teach your kids?

Those early years with your children are precious and don’t get repeated. If you are often absent, with a second job and tired when you are with them, what will you miss out on? We’ve been giving this a lot of thought.

Your children are being brought up in a rapidly changing world. The one thing you can be sure of is that their adult world will look very different to yours. It will change faster than you are used to, as yours changes faster than your parents’ ever did. They are likely to have 3 to 4 different careers, be lifelong learners and have times when they have no money coming in. So wouldn’t it be good to teach your kids to make friends with change, to help them adapt to different circumstances? Equip your kids with entrepreneurial skills and you will set them up for life. The best way to do this is to be an example of those skills in action. These skills are the best, and really the only, guarantee of security. If you learn to turn a buck when you need to, you’ll never go hungry. Teach your kids to do the same and you’ve fed them for life.

I am the youngest of four siblings. My 3 brothers and I all work for ourselves and have done for some time. We have all experienced varying degrees of financial success, some feast and some famine. As children any entrepreneurial flair was encouraged. Our parents took an interest and showed some pride when one of us sold something or got a good deal. We were never given a lot of pocket money and, if we wanted something new we really needed to think about what we had that we could sell or swap.

At 8 years old, I desperately wanted a Meccanno set (I wasn’t really a girly girl!), so I got my dolls house, loaded it into my dolls pram and pushed it door to door down the street until I sold it. Then I had enough money to buy the set I longed for. Oh, the thrill of that first deal! I expected to get told off but actually, my parents seemed quite proud of me and thus began a love of making money rather than selling my time. Children have no fear of selling, no fear of rejection and they believe anything is possible, until we tell them otherwise.

So, why not earn your way out of debt? Not with another job that takes you away from your family but by learning some new skills with them. Sure, tighten your belt a little, but not so it cuts you in half. Learn some courage from your children and teach them the new financial skills you learn as your debts disappear.

From now on we are starting a new category. From now on, Thursday will be Entrepreneur Day. The Entrepreneurship category will help you grow your financial intelligence. We will look at what skills it takes and how you can learn them with your kids.

Start a family business by becoming a business family.

This post is part of the Kids and Money Blog Carnival at Money Hacks

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