At a time when many are struggling to stay out of debt and control excess spending, a couple from California is choosing to stand out. They have not only curbed these habits in their own lives but have also been teaching their toddler son to make positive choices with money.
Fifty-six-year-old real estate broker Lee Schwartz and 42-year-old stand-up comedian Linda Schwartz have been committed to teaching their 4-year-old son, Huxley, various powerful life lessons, and using money wisely has been one of them.
For the Schwartz family, it’s just been a natural progression from one thing to the next. When Huxley was 6 months old they began teaching him baby sign language.
“It took a few weeks for him to get it, but we were pretty consistent with just doing the basic signs every day,” Mrs. Schwartz told The Epoch Times. “By the time he was a year old, he probably knew 80 signs, and it really tempered his temperament.
“Most children that age don’t know how to communicate the things that they want.”
Mrs. Schwartz believes both parents’ backgrounds have helped shape their parenting style with Huxley.
“We really want to instill some values in him that don’t revolve around material things,” Mrs. Schwartz said. “My husband and I came from a long line of poor and broke people. We’ve worked really hard for ourselves to get where we are, and we can give him everything that he wants, but there’s no value in that.
“By the time I was 18 and could get credit cards, I became in crippling debt, and it took a long time to pay all that off.”
For Mr. Schwartz who grew up poor and learned how to make money on his own, the laws of money became a “core value” that he wanted to pass on to his son.
“My plan, you know, 30 years ago, was to pay my kid, what some people would call an extreme allowance but show him how real life works,” he said.
Learning new skills and completing household chores are integral elements in the system of values that they’ve been teaching Huxley. However, in the Schwartz household, instead of calling it chores, they say “Dharma duty.” And each member of the family has their own “Dharma duty.”
For Huxley, it includes picking up his toys, cleaning his room, putting away his clothes, and vacuuming any crumbs that have fallen on the floor after he eats.
“When his granny comes over, sometimes they'll clean the toilet together,” Mrs. Schwartz said.
Apart from completing the household chores, Huxley also gets paid for reading and practicing music. If he finishes all these things, he gets paid a weekly allowance.
“At the end of the week, he makes between $70 and $80,” Mr. Schwartz said, “... every Sunday night we do payday.”
He explains that some expenses are deducted from Huxley’s income to help him learn how finances work. Those expenses include rent, taxes, charity, short-term savings, long-term savings, and utilities, among other things.
In all, Huxley puts away about 90 percent of his earnings each week with expenses and rent amounting to 25 percent, taxes to 25 percent, charity to 10 percent, short-term savings to 10 percent, long-term savings to 10 percent, and retirement savings to 10 percent.
Huxley’s other expenses include $1 for food, $1 for gas and electricity, $1 for water, and $1 for transportation. After all his expenses are covered he’s left with about $7 that he’s free to use in any way he wants, which might include buying his own toys or books.
The parents began teaching Huxley how to use money when he was around 3 years old, and he was soon able to buy a bike for $144 with his own money.
Although Huxley uses his spending jar to buy toys and books, his parents say what he loves most is to feed his “voracious appetite” for reading—he runs straight past their local toy store to their bookstore, looking for new books.
“He’s more excited about buying books these days than in buying toys,” Mr. Schwartz said. “He has read 640 books in the past nine months.”
Apart from teaching him how to spend and save money, the parents are focused on instilling Huxley with powerful values. They also help him learn how to wisely spend his time.
“He makes his own choices,” Mrs. Schwartz said. “Like, if we say, ‘Hey, would you like to play piano? Or would you like to read,’ he makes his choice. We’re really encouraging him to be an independent thinker.”
They say his independent spirit can be seen in the way he can contentedly play with blocks by himself, softly humming the music of Mozart. It can also be seen in his interactions with his parents and others.
Using money and a work ethic as tools in his education for life, the Schwartzes also want to teach Huxley responsibility and accountability.
“We use the word consequences around here a lot, and there’s good consequences, and there’s maybe some not-so-good consequences, though, they’re all just consequences,” Mrs. Schwartz said.
Self-sufficiency is also a high priority.
“I want him to be a lifelong learner,” Mr. Schwartz said. “I want him to have the capacity to look at a problem, and, if he can’t figure it out, know that there are resources and things out there that will help him figure it out.”
Huxley’s homeschooling curriculum is divided into “money school” and “soul school,” and he’s also learning a lot about self-confidence.
“I’ve given him what he calls ’superpowers,‘” Mr. Schwartz said. “Most kids know about superheroes and superpowers, right? But he’s never seen these. He has no idea what Superman is or spider man. ... His superpowers are what I call ’qualities.' So the first superpower that he had was courage, the second superpower is patience, and his third superpower is cooperation.”
If they are waiting in a long line, Mr. Schwartz says that Huxley will turn to him and say, “Daddy, I’m using my superpower.” Recognizing and voicing when he uses these “qualities of the soul” has been vital because they can be abstract and hard to explain. Some of the superpowers the parents plan to teach in the future are compassion, empathy, and tolerance.
The Schwartzes believe that, though their way is different from most common parenting practices, their family is not an anomaly.
“He’s just been exposed to these things in his environment, on a regular basis,” Mr. Schwartz said, adding that Huxley isn’t unique or extraordinary, but since he “counts money every day, plays the piano every day, and reads every day, these experiences add up.
Since Huxley hasn’t been exposed to screen time, he isn’t influenced by advertisements, thus he doesn’t ask for anything.
“His only influence is what we let him be exposed to in the physical reality world,” Mr. Schwartz said.
Faith, they say, also plays a major role in their parenting style.
“Lee and I do believe that there is a divine and higher power, and we’re being led and everything is happening in divine timing that He even chose us to come through,” Mrs. Schwartz said.
As they look to Huxley’s future, Mr. Schwartz believes that his son is going to have a healthy relationship with money without having a hoarder mentality.
“As he gets older, he'll learn debt is the way the average man does it. And this is the way that wise people do it,” Mr. Schwartz said. “There’s no buying things unless you have the money for it.”
For parents who are interested in trying their approach, the Schwartzes suggest starting by teaching children early and in fun ways.
“It’s about instilling in your child the ability and the love for learning,” Mrs. Schwartz said. “When we started with baby sign language at 6 months old, and when the light bulb went off for him, it was an exciting moment because he now knew that he could communicate with us.”
Mr. Schwartz added that diet and limiting screen time have also played an important role in their parenting journey.
He said: “I would tell parents, ‘no junk food, no screens and you’ve probably eliminated 90 percent of the kids’ emotional problems between a healthy diet and a healthy mind.”
In the end, Mrs. Schwartz believes they aren’t doing anything extreme.
“We’re just trying to raise a well-rounded kid. And we’re throwing whatever we can at them, and just seeing what sticks,” she said.
