As I come to see my 20 year old and 15 year old sons growing into adults right before my eyes, I'm constantly amazed at what they know ...I'm pretty sure that at the tender age of 15 I didn't know much about debt, although I often wondered about those small pieces of paper laying all over my mother's table with numbers added and subtracted across them. "Figuring" -- she called it -- and now I know why! She, too, was a single mother and tried relentlessly to interest me in her world of numbers and finance (she was a bank employee, and later officer, for many years). But having developed the brain that was partial to words I steered clear of anything to do with numbers whenever possible. That would include her talk of stocks, bonds, interest, etc. I'm not sure if it was a fear of learning something that I found challenging, a sense of "someone else will take care of that" or some rebellious streak, but I never paid attention when she talked about financial matters and once she became disabled, I realized I should have listened more. That is a lesson in itself to young girls who don't fancy "figuring" and these days, more necessary than ever before. Our children know what it's like for a country to be in debt, for their parents to be in debt and for their neighbors to suddenly sell boats, cars and houses and downsize everything in sight. They have seen their parents worry about retirement, healthcare and in too many cases, what to put on the table for dinner -- for them, the stresses of the current economy are just a click away. I can still remember sitting at the kitchen table and having my mother slide a Kiplinger Report over, hoping I would take an interest in its musings on money. And now, as my boyfriend of four years (a man she would love to mull over money-talk with) opens a Kiplinger publication in the mail, I have to smile and cringe all at the same. time. How the world has changed and oh, how I wish I had listened and learned then! What our children have learned at a much younger age is that no, money doesn't buy happiness, but perhaps a sense of freedom and with that, the time, ability and mindset to explore, create and savor life. Perhaps they are learning that taking in as much financial know-how as possible and learning the basics of economics (note: it's not as complicated as it appeared to be in that enormous college lecture hall) just might be time well spent. I know that revelation has made my mother very proud!