Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You're Not): A Parents' Guide for Kids 3 to 23

by Beth Kobliner

A striking study conducted at the University of Rochester shows how important this is. Kids were divided into two groups of 14 each. Both groups received used, broken crayons, and an adult informed the children that she was going to leave for a few minutes to get better art supplies. In group one, the adult returned promptly with fancier pens and crayons; in group two, she returned empty-handed, offering nothing but excuses. Next, the adult repeated this exercise, this time saying that she was going to get a selection of bigger, better stickers. The first group got the goods; the second, one lame little sticker. Finally, the children were given a version of the Marshmallow Test. Interestingly, a clear pattern emerged: Kids in group one, with a “reliable” grown-up, were much better at waiting. In fact, while 9 out of 14 kids in group one waited 15 minutes for that second marshmallow, just 1 kid in the broken-promises group waited that long. You get it: Broken promises can crush a kid’s incentive.

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