Choking on the Silver Spoon: Keeping Your Kids Healthy, Wealthy and Wise in a Land of Plenty [Paperback]

Gary W Buffone Ph.D (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

A practical guide that offers parents valuable advice on issues related to kids and money — no matter what their age or stage in life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I wrote this book for a reason. I’m concerned about the way today’s kids will fare. Unless we give our children more of ourselves and less of our money, I’m afraid these children will lack the essential character they’ll need to cope with life’s guaranteed ups and downs.

To keep our kids healthy, wealthy, and wise, we parents must follow the laws of financial parenting and:

· Safeguard the development of their ambition: Satisfy your child’s true physical needs; question ruthlessly their myriad of wants.

· Foster their resilience and self-control: Your children need you to set limits on their behavior. By all means, be on good terms with your children, but don’t abdicate your parental authority.

· Help them become part of the human race: Don’t let them equate their self-worth with their net worth. Give them what really counts: your love, your guidance, your time.

· Give them the tools, and the desire, to manage money: Take the time to teach them the skills and knowledge they need to keep their financial house in order, and instill in them the reason for doing so.

· Model the values you want to see in them: If you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk. If you want your child to be compassionate, be kind to the handicapped neighbor, if you want your kids to be generous, give regularly to charity.

Give your kids credit, and I don’t mean the revolving kind. Let them learn that happiness comes from their heads and not your wallet. Make them do the hard things that build their character. Have confidence in your children’s capacity to handle life’s challenges and let them do so, for it is just these very experiences that will help them grow and develop into healthy adults.

About the Author

Gary W Buffone PhD

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Simplon Press (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974653500
• ISBN-13: 978-0974653501
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #718,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent parental resource, January 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Choking on the Silver Spoon: Keeping Your Kids Healthy, Wealthy and Wise in a Land of Plenty (Paperback)

I read Choking on the Silver Spoon in one night. I was intrigued by the title and found the book to be every bit as engaging as its title. Choking was written primarily for affluent parents, financial counselors, and others involved with the management of wealth, however every parent who cares about rearing happy, well-adjusted children would greatly benefit from the lessons found therein. How do you raise children with solid values, self-esteem, empathy, generosity and what my parents called "good character?" Dr. Buffone is an experienced therapist who draws on years of practice helping parents do just that.

Today's children are growing up in a competitive, consumer-driven world bombarded by ads for must-have toys no child dares be without. They learn early to become avid consumers and spend the rest of their lives engaged in attainment and acquisition, often missing what is really important and beautiful in life. As Dr. Buffone points out, busy parents give things to children instead of their time, and children come to value little as a result, often searching for happiness in materialism and falling sadly short. Dr. Buffone's easy to follow methods, part Tough Love, part Pure Love, work for children of any age, though he readily admits the longer a child suffers from "affluenza" the harder it is to cure.

The final chapters involve family wealth counseling and legacy planning. Even if you have only a small retirement nest egg to pass on, the book offers valuable insights regarding distribution options and their consequences. I highly recommend Choking on the Silver Spoon to every parent or parent-to-be, grandparent, teacher, and anyone involved in the care and nurture of children.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A primer for passing down financial survival skills, April 5, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choking on the Silver Spoon: Keeping Your Kids Healthy, Wealthy and Wise in a Land of Plenty (Paperback)

Choking On The Silver Spoon: Keeping Your Kids Healthy, Wealthy And Wise In A Land Of Plenty by Gary Buffone (a practicing licensed psychologist and Director, The Family Business Century, Byron Harless Consulting, Jacksonville, Florida) is a very practical and accessibly written parenting guide meant for parents everywhere, whether raising toddlers, dealing with difficult teenagers, or keeping in touch with their adult children. Choking On The Silver Spoon deals with the very serious problem of handling children and money matters in a fair and balanced manner that will not "spoil" children, but rather teach them the true value of hard-earned wages, give them initiative to achieve, and help them better succeed financially when on their own. Of special note are the "five laws": The Law Of Necessity; The Law Of Loving Limits; The Law Of Reciprocity; The Law Of Fiscal Responsibility; and The Law of Example. This is superbly presented and highly recommended primer for passing down financial survival skills and endearing a healthy respect for work and the fruits of honest labor.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars with a spoonful of humor too!, May 5, 2004

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Choking on the Silver Spoon: Keeping Your Kids Healthy, Wealthy and Wise in a Land of Plenty (Paperback)

How do rich kids get to be such brats? Have you ever wanted to explain to your kids (& yourself!) what money is & is not, & what it can & cannot do? Then CHOKING ON THE SILVER SPOON is a good place to start.

Dr. Gary Buffone, advisor to the affluent, has written a readable & engaging guide which covers:
When Wealth Cripples: The Monetarily Mangled; Why Parents Worry; Recognizing the Silver Spoon Syndrome; Is Your Child a Silver-Spooner?; The Rising Tide of Wealth in America, & much more.

He explains why Money Can't Buy Them Love & how to go about Curing the Plague of Prosperity. & then he sets forth The Five Immutable Laws of Financial Parenting:
-- of Necessity
-- of Loving Limits
-- of Reciprocity
-- of Fiscal Responsibility
-- of Example.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends CHOKING ON THE SILVER SPOON for all parents (rich & not-so-rich) who want to raise their children with a better grasp of what money means in the scheme of things, & how having it affects your life.