My kid called from college and is broke...again

Some parents never get this call. Others find it’s a monthly tradition. Ultimately, you’ve only got two options: Bail him out with an emergency cash drop or drop off a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of Wonder Bread and let him sweat it out until the next payday.

Truth is, by the time your kid is calling from college, you’ve probably already missed your first opportunity to teach this crucial life lesson.

Basic budgeting is a skill that’s best taught early, says MoneySense Approved financial planner Heather Franklin. With her own kids, she started years before they graduated from high school, by doling out their allowance less often and in ever greater increments.

“That way they learned to manage their money for movies and clothing for longer stretches,” she says. “If a person is sent off to university without basic skills how can you expect them to magically develop? It doesn’t happen through osmosis.”

But that doesn’t quite answer the question. This does: Peanut butter is cheap and an excellent source of protein; beer is not. Besides, monodiets are all the rage with the celebrities these days.