Invest in Your Kids' Future

Invest in Your Kids' Future

 It's Never too Early to Invest in Your Kids' College Future  .  .  . How Cliche' is That!!

By: Krystal W. Abbott

Yes, when we think about investing in our children's post-secondary education we think of saving money in a 529 or a trust or even in an IRA. Believe it or not it is more important to invest in your child than to invest in your mutual funds and savings accounts! What talent does your child possess? How do you figure it out? Enroll them in everything under the sun?? NOT!! Who the heck can afford that! Sometimes its easy to figure out and sometimes its not.

One of my daughters as a small child was cross-eyed, pigeon toed, uncoordinated, had no rhythm, and would trip over a blade of grass. Who would have thought she would end up on the college athletic scholarship track playing volleyball or softball at a D1 university!! Although my daughter did not start out with any coordination, her passion for sports and being a part of a team was more powerful than her physical deficits.

Observe what your children love to do when you don't have them registered or enrolled in some program. Do they sing all the time? Are they drama queens or kings? Do they thump the floor or a piece of furniture to the beat? Will they hit a volleyball against the side of your  house for hours? Do they read a lot? Do they run fast? Do they dribble the ball and shoot hoops outside by themselves?  Do they have an interest in computers and video games beyond just being a user? Do they dance all over the house? Are they doing flips and cartwheels all of the time? Do they have creative ideas? Do they like to draw or paint or create other aesthetically pleasing works? Do they like to knit, sew or crochet? Do they like to write?  Do they like helping others and performing community service? Is your child always advocating their position about something?

What do your kids talk to you about regarding what THEY like to do? Sometimes your kids may think they want to do something and then when you pay your money and enroll them in it, they find that they don't like it. Don't get angry about it and force them to do it because you paid money. Just have them finish out whatever the session term is and move on. As soon as you make them participate in an activity, they will hate it even more. If it is an open ended activity like piano or karate lessons where you can pay every week or every month into perpetuity, I would suggest  encouraging your child to stick it out for at least a year unless it is just really an emotional grind every time it is time to go to the lesson or the session. You don't want to force your kids into participating in extra- curricular activities but you also don't want them being too quick to quit everything either. It is a fine line to walk.  Unfortunately, our rug rats don't come with training manuals so we have to figure out when to let them quit and when to encourage them to continue on with a trial and error analysis.

So often as parents we think we are doing a service for our kids by packing their schedules with a bunch of activities. We are actually doing them a disservice when we do that. Not only are we driving ourselves to the poor house paying for all of these activities and programs, but we are stressing our kids out with too much stuff to do! Not to mention all of the time we as parents are working as taxi drivers running everyone around!  Yes, our kids should be busy doing activities that enrich their minds and their bodies, but we have to be smart about the way we go about accomplishing that goal.   Throwing money at that objective is the WRONG way to go.

By the time they are in middle school, you will have a pretty good idea about your child's interests. Once they are in high school you should have a real handle on what they like to do outside of school. Then the question becomes "can you parlay your child's talent into a means of receiving government or private aid for college?" ABSOLUTELY!!  Whatever your child's talent, there is scholarship money out there just waiting for you! You don't have to be a star athlete or a straight 'A' student  to be eligible for scholarship money. The key is that once you identify your child's talent and passion for it, you MUST support it. NOW is the REAL INVESTMENT part!! The investment comes in the form of money and time. It is going to hurt! It will be painful! It will require sacrifice!! But just think of the big scholarship pot at the end of the rainbow!!

Your kid has worked hard to do well at whatever their talent is. NOW you have to help them kick it up a notch so that their chances of receiving scholarship money increases.With my surprisingly athletic daughter, the investment has been in club volleyball ($3,000.00) and travel softball ($1,000.00) . . . OUCH!! How do you pay for that? . . .  fund raise and sacrifice!  Its just that plain and just that simple. It is the best INVESTMENT in your child's college future!!

Five tips on investing in your child college future:

1. Observe what they like to do at a very young age.

2.  Talk to your child about what they would like to try.

3. Find convenient and affordable (or better yet FREE)programs for your child. College universities and non-profit organizations often offer affordable or FREE educational programs.  Surf the web for such opportunities.

4. Pay attention to the difference between what your kids love to do and what they don't mind doing . . . Look for the passion in what they are doing. If you have to drag them to practice or rehearsals or class, there is no passion there!

5. Once you have discovered the talent and passion for it, support it fully with your time and your money and your creative methods of coming up with the money you don't have!