The opportunity came up today to teach my kids about not wasting what we have.

This morning I came into the bathroom to find about 5 clean, unused baby diapers with our kids’ bright red toothpaste smeared all over 1 side of them and a few others with white, medicated rash cream smeared on them.  I angrily called them up to interrogate them.  I calmly asked what they were doing….. “We were making sandwiches.”, they said.

Luckily it wasn’t a whole pack of diapers. After stopping ourselves from laughing at the idea of diaper sandwiches and thinking what great imaginations, we got them to tell us what each of the items was actually meant for. We explained that they didn’t only make a big mess, but they had wasted the needed items, especially the rash cream that was a special order from the doctor and not so easily replaced. We emphasized the importance of using items as they were intended and to not waste.

When our first child was 2 she decided to use the diaper cream to wax her legs and her sister’s and to cover the crib. After taking pictures, I made her responsible for her mess. She was rather tired after bathing herself and her sisters then later cleaning the bed (of course some assistance from mommy along the way where needed). It was a hard lesson for her and hard for me to watch her go through it, but I never did have a problem with her playing with the diaper cream again.

We use little opportunities, such as these, to teach our children the importance of good resources and good money management.

What great opportunities have come up in your life to teach the importance of good resource management?