Parenting Big Kids (5-8) Support Group

Why do you feel you need to come up with something different to say?
I personally think we don't give kids enough credit. They understand life's situations and handle it better than most adults. You just have to believe yourself that things will get better.
When my oldest was 5 we had a newborn baby and my husband was laid off from his job and we were hit with some other financial things all in one week and our bank account was wiped out... we told him the truth, daddy needs to find a new job and we need to be thankful we have a house and each other and family that will help us with food and we need to have faith that we will get through the tough time and life will get better again.
Now my youngest is 6 and my husband has been without a job for months, I have lost my job, and we are losing our house. I told my kids the truth: life is full of challenges and as long as we hold our heads up, stick together and keep pushing forward we will get through them and find that we are stronger for it.

I want to tell him the truth, just not maybe all the details of it. He can be a worrier and I don't want to take away his joy if you know what I mean. He's the kind of kid who will ask me "mom, did you remember to bring your purse?" or "mom, did you remember to turn off the iron?" I'm like "just be a kid and relax" LOL.

I guess it's bittersweet when kids are ultra responsible -- you are glad they're mature, but then, you want them to be carefree, at least, considering that he's only 7, I don't want him to grow up too fast.

I guess there is a balance to be found here -- learning life's lessons but not letting the problems take over.

Just tell him you didnt really like your last job....it wasnt good enough and that your boss was an alien and wanted you to move to Mars so you will be looking for a better job here on Earth.....worked with my son when I lost my job......and it lmade it fun and not scary....but you run the risk of having a child who wants to live on Mars.....

if you are that worried why tell him at all? Unless ofcourse he asks. I would definately NOT lie to him but I also wuld not divulge any uneeded information. My kids are the same way and i just try not to tell them things unless i absolutely have to.

I find that I can tell them a simple version of the truth, but I need to clearly identify which are the child issues and which are the grownup issues. So if they say for example, how are we going to keep our house, I tell them that is a grownup issue and I will handle it. Their issues are, we will have to eat out less and buy fewer toys and movies, and they are not to complain about it. They are also not to worry about it, that is a grownup issue. If they ask lots of details, again it is a grownup issue. I find that if you give too much information, they tend to try to problem solve themselves.
You can also say, I know I said before that if you did such and so I would lose my job, but that really has nothing to do with why I lost my job, these things happen in the economy, and it's part of the economic cycle. I was just exaggerating. Now go and play.

Thanks everybody.

= )

What I ended up telling him was that we are going into "economo mode" (like a robot or some other 7yo imaginary mechanical thing) and we need to conserve energy/money/everything.

Why? he asks. I answer that my work has changed and we are trying to be smart and save $ in case we need it someday to solve a problem.

That seemed to work. That way he understands that he can't whine about not getting new things, but he's not worried about it either.

I like the "grown up issue" answer. I will keep that one tucked away.