When we got our first ride home from our father, we assumed the bus fare we saved was now our pocket money to spend as we wished. Neither of our parents asked for that money, so we assumed they forgot about it.
Come opening day when we lined up for our back to school dues, my father quoted the exact amount we were still holding, and informed us that was our bus fare to school. He did not even ask whether we still had the money; all he did was inform us where it fitted in our back to school budget. He gave us our school fees, shopping and our return fare, that was it. We were shocked but not surprised.
Discipline is a powerful tool, especially for growing children. The discipline we received growing up conditioned us never to spend money that did not belong to us. My father drilled into our heads that there is no dignity in spending money that you had not earned from your own sweat. We therefore still had the money he gave us four months prior. We held on to it hoping he would forget, then we could splurge a little on our back to school shopping and had some pocket money for a change. Not on my fathers dime. He made sure of that.
It was very painful back then, but looking back, those are the incidents that made us who we are today. We were motivated to work hard and earn money of our own, that we could budget for ourselves. We learnt financial responsibility, accountability and integrity, lessons we could never have learnt in any classroom situation. Our parents were up to something and they made sure we looked deep into their heart and soul one painful lesson at a time.
Yes. Now we get it and we are eternally grateful.
