While many of us struggle to make kids realize the real value of money, here is how Neeta Ambani, one of the powerful women in India, raised her kids to make sure they realize the same.
Being the richest family in Asia, Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani are perfect examples of how to ace professional and personal life. While a lot is known about Mukesh Ambani, Nita Ambani too created her own niche and proved that she is more than just the wife of India’s richest person.
Neeta Ambani has inspired many women, who tend to remain as a shadow of their husbands. But, what else is inspiring about Neeta Ambani is how she has put every effort to raise her kids with the right family values.
Despite the fame, money, and power, it is heartwarming to see how Neeta Ambani made sure that her kids inculcate the importance of valuing money and using power responsibly.
In an interview with iDiva, Neeta Ambani was quite open about how she perceives power and wealth:
“Wealth and power don’t go together. Power cannot be brokered. To me, power is responsibility. And I derive it from my family,my work,my passion and my very middle-class values.”
In the same interview, Nita Ambani had also revealed an interesting story that reflected how she had raised her children. While narrating a funny incident, Nita stated,
“When my kids were still young, I’d give them Rs 5 each every Friday to spend in the school canteen. One day, my youngest, Anant, came running into my bedroom and demanded he be given Rs 10 instead.
When I questioned him, he said his pals in school laughed whenever they saw him take out a five-rupee coin saying, ‘Ambani hai ya bhikari!’ Mukesh and I couldn’t help but crack up.”
But it wasn’t only the value of money lesson she taught her kids. When her kids, Isha Ambani Piramal, Akash Ambani, and Anant Ambani were growing up, it was Nita, who made sure her husband, Mukesh Ambani spend quality time with his kids to raise them. She shared in another interview with a leading portal,
“I told him you may be busy influencing the future of Reliance and the country, but you better influence the future of your kids too. I believe that it’s not just quality but also the quantity of time spent with the kids that makes them sound individuals.”
The generation where parents fall into the trap of spoiling their kids easily, Neeta Ambani is a role model to each one of us to take a stand and make our kids understand the importance of family values over money.
Dr. Amanda Gummer, a child psychologist who specializes in parenting and children’s play, gave a piece of great advice to working parents. She shared with HuffPost:
“Working parents may feel that buying lots of presents justifies the time spent working and away from their family, whereas stay at home parents meanwhile may feel the need to compete and not want their children to suffer in comparison to others.
Both of these are poor reasons to overspend on presents. Parents should be confident in their own decisions and spend only what they want to and what they can afford at Christmas.”
So next time, when you give in to the desire of overspending on your kids, we hope you would seek inspiration from Neeta Ambani, and make the right decision.