I was talking at the Heritage Trust seminar about a lesson I learned from my grandparents. Whenever they sent us a check, my grandmother always insisted that we use the money for something practical and that we wrote them a thank you note. When my grandfather passed away and left me some money, my first thought was wondering what practical thing am I going to spend this money on. This month’s article is on how to pass your values on to the next generation.

One of the people at the seminar asked me, “Who are you going to write the thank you note to?” That got me thinking. I am writing this newsletter as my thank you note. I am glad my grandparents taught me to be responsible with money.

Another person asked me, “What was the most meaningful gift they ever gave you?” That prompted me to remember several special gifts along the years. My grandparents sold toys wholesale to stores like Eckerd’s. They had a huge toy warehouse with samples of all the different toys. It was fun as a kid to be able to see all the toys and play with them before purchasing them. One lesson I learned is the difference between how cool the toys looked on television and how they actually were to play with. For my birthday for several years, they let me pick any toy I wanted from the warehouse. I always wanted the gumball machine just because I wanted the gum out of it. My grandparents and parents explained to me that this was not a practical choice because the other toys would be more fun to play with.

What lessons are you teaching your grandchildren and children?