My kids will never hear me say "we can't afford it."

My kids will never hear me say "we can't afford it." I say something else, and it changed how they think about money. Understand what we can't afford it. Kid, it doesn't teach budgeting. It teaches fear. And it tells them money's a wall that someone else that the family is at the mercy of a number. And they carry that feeling into adulthood long after the money shows up. I grew up with that feeling. It took me years to put it down. So in our house, this sentence is this: Hey, that's not how we're choosing to spend our money right now. It's the exact no, but a completely different lesson. Now money has a boss and us. I sometimes take it further. Okay, that costs $60. What would you trade for now? And now my kid isn't begging. He's making his first budget decision at five or six years old. See, one sentence raises kids who feel poor no matter what's in the account. The other raises kids who run money instead of fearing it.