Put Mom in charge of the economy

Ivan Cons

May, 2010

Spring has arrived and once again Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Many of us are fortunate to still have our mothers, while others are left with warm memories of days gone by.

Throughout our lives, mothers have been influential in instilling us with values and common sense. Much of who we are is influenced by our mothers.

Remember how your mother talked to you about the value of saving money and not spending foolishly, how she would sacrifice her needs to make sure you would not go without.

In many families, the father was the sole breadwinner, but the mother managed the finances and ran the household, stretching the weekly paycheque. Each week, she would head to the bank, waiting outside until the branch opened to make the deposit and take out the cash that was required for the week’s expenses. My, how banking has evolved.

In the old days, cash was king.

Lately we seem to have lost that mantra, with access to cheap money and easy financing. Perhaps if more mothers were in charge of our economy, there would be less financial ignorance.

Maybe it’s time we went back to living simpler lives. When my mother needed to reach me, she managed to get in touch. I didn’t have to post my life on Facebook or Twitter – my mother knew everything just by listening to my voice.

Who had a cellphone? If you had a rotary-dial phone in your house, you were lucky and heaven forbid if you left it off the hook.

“Mothers knew how to turn a dime into a quarter and a quarter into a dollar.”

Nowadays, people have busy, fractured lives, eating on the go, with no time to prepare a proper meal. My mother’s kitchen was the restaurant: You knew what you were getting. How many people know how to sew today? Hems to be done, clothing to be repaired: it was all done by guess who. Not too long ago mothers knew how to turn a dime into a quarter and a quarter into a dollar. Today it seems we know how to earn a dollar but spend the hundred we don’t have.

To all those mothers out there, I wish you a fantastic day surrounded by your loved ones. To those whose mothers are no longer here, I hope w cherished memories will warm your day.