Fishing and Investing

In two different conversations today I talked about fishing with my father at Lockport when I was young and the Student Investment Club project I am working on. It dawned on me that there is a connection between these two memories/ideas.

Spending the time with my father - usually alone - the odd time we did go to Lockport to fish (which may have been only once or twice but it does stand out in my memory) gave me a chance to learn things from him and perhaps to know him better. As a father now I realize that it is difficult for kids to see their parents as people with lives and skills and interests beyond raising their children and I was no different.

One of the things we have learned in this Student Investment Club project is that kids see their parents as a reliable source of financial information yet parents say that they rarely talk to their kids about financial matters and that they also feel deficient themselves in matters financial.

To me the connection between fishing with my Dad and our Student Investment Club project is obvious. Parents are really key players in a child's development - even if they think they don't know what they are doing. I am sure my father had some skills as a fisherman but I am also sure (given the fact that I don't remember any other time that he went fishing) that he really wasn't that skilled as a fisherman. Yet the memory of being with him, enjoying the fishing, wanting to become a better fisher remains with me.

I am really saying the obvious I think. Parents that pay attention to their kids - even if they don't have all the skills and abilities they want their kids to have - are motivating the kids, setting an example, role modelling and encouraging. Its something we all need to do in all parts of our family lives