I'm 32, and my wife and I just had our first child two months ago. FIRE is still a few years away for me, but by 40 I plan to be out of the game and FIRE'd ... if I'm doing any work at that point it will be purely for personal satisfaction and definitely not full time.
But one nagging thought in the back of my mind is how to instill a good work ethic in my child(ren) down the road, when I've stopped working full time. I know it sounds sort of old-fashioned, but I grew up in a household where I saw my father go to work every morning and come home by dinnertime every weekday. I think I was influenced by my dad's work ethic; I was also influenced by the fact that he did not let work run his life and was always home by dinnertime, and kept a good work-life balance.
I know that I want to teach my children the important reasons for working hard and being responsible, not least of which is that it gives you freedom to FIRE or do other things with your live besides work-for-money. But what troubles me is that no matter how much I talk about it, actions speak louder than words, and I worry they won't comprehend the work and sacrifices that went into reaching FIRE.
I guess there's no real answer and no single solution, other than to really teach your kids the value of money and hard work. I'm just curious what other FIREd parents have done if they reached FIRE while their kids were still fairly young.
But one nagging thought in the back of my mind is how to instill a good work ethic in my child(ren) down the road, when I've stopped working full time. I know it sounds sort of old-fashioned, but I grew up in a household where I saw my father go to work every morning and come home by dinnertime every weekday. I think I was influenced by my dad's work ethic; I was also influenced by the fact that he did not let work run his life and was always home by dinnertime, and kept a good work-life balance.
I know that I want to teach my children the important reasons for working hard and being responsible, not least of which is that it gives you freedom to FIRE or do other things with your live besides work-for-money. But what troubles me is that no matter how much I talk about it, actions speak louder than words, and I worry they won't comprehend the work and sacrifices that went into reaching FIRE.
I guess there's no real answer and no single solution, other than to really teach your kids the value of money and hard work. I'm just curious what other FIREd parents have done if they reached FIRE while their kids were still fairly young.