Does your kids know that they are rich? (Because I am so stinking wealthy it’s ridiculous)

If you are reading this, chances are you are wealthy enough to own a home computer or have city issued library access to read my blog.

Computer access along with a home, an apartment, a car & a college degree means one thing:

YOU ARE STINKING RICH!

How does it feel???

I, too am so friggin’ wealthy it’s ridiculous.

Did you know Dave & I are in the TOP 10% RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD?!

I don’t mean to brag but that makes us the 59,029,289 richest couple in the world.

If you want to figure how just how rich you actually are go to www.GlobalRichList.com

(There’s probably a fantastic chance your actually richer than Dave & I)!

By the world’s standards, we are rolling in the dough: now what?

First things first, let’s teach our kids to navigate it!  If we don’t, we risk raising them to grow up to be spoiled brats who care nothing of the world’s issues, think they are poor and pander after material possessions as if they “need” it.

Ugh.  That is not the goal.  Not for me at least.

A few months ago I sat down for a little chit-chat with Scott Bessenecker.

He’s an author and Associate Director of Missions for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Scott wrote The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World’s Poor which was easily one of the most influential books I’ve read in the past few years.  (He also just wrote How to Inherit the Earth: Submitting Ourselves to a Servant Savior which I haven’t read —-yet)!Scott is one of those dudes that you totally want to emulate.  You know the type right?  Completely genuine, passionate, wise & challenging all bundled up in a ball of kindness?  That’s the one.  He’s one you can trust.  So run out & buy his books…you won’t be sorry.

(And, no, Scott is not paying me to be nice to him nor giving me any free books or Latte’s)!

I asked Scott to give some of blog readers a little advice about helping our kids navigate the tremendous wealth and options we face daily. growing up in the richest nation of all time.

Scott: “A reporter asked a Brit and an American what they thought of hunger in the rest of the world.

The Brit asked, “What’s hunger?” The American asked, “What’s the rest of the world?””

Me: What are some of the problems that were facing as parents?

Scott: Middle class Americans live in a pretty tightly wrapped cocoon.

We interact with the world mostly through a screen, an air conditioned tour bus, or through fairly Americanized immigrant populations. We cannot afford for our kids to be as insulated as many of us were to the realities of life (both awesome and tragic) in the majority world.

Me: I agree.

(Dave & I have tried many different methods to help Ransom understand the effects of poverty. I have always been really REALLY really THANKFUL that I grew up super poor because of how it made me into a big giver, an advocate and a woman of compassion.  That’s not something I want my kids to miss out on in their cushy suburban existence).

Any resources you would give as suggestions for the kiddo’s?

Scott: One great kid’s book which neither exalts nor sensationalizes international poverty is Children Just Like Me, By: Anabel Kindersley This was a helpful thing for our kids to get a picture of life elsewhere as they were growing up.  Poor kids, rich kids and kids all across the economic spectrum from every continent on earth are featured along with the things they do each day.

Me: What are some ways you & wife tried to help educate your kids about poverty?

We had a world map place mat. Each kid would take a turn at meal times, close their eyes, and pick out a country to pray for.

We also had international students living with us nearly every year from when our first born was 2 years old all through school. We took a bit of a hiatus from having people live with us during some of the tumultuous teen years, but mostly we’ve enjoyed having international students living with us for the past 20 or more years.

Baby steps…