Get those “gimmes” out of your house

If your child has a terminal case of “the gimmes” — and he’s not getting any better, with “Gimme that” and “Buy me this” all day long, you may benefit from reading Sabrina Lamb’s “Do I Look Like an ATM?”

The “gimmes” — usually accompanied by whining, pleading, and a maddening inability to understand the word “no” — are enough to make any parent crazy. How did this happen?

In her new book, Lamb says that children were born to beg, which is a situation parents need to stop. Avoiding the issue (or worse, giving in) can result in big problems now and even bigger problems in the future.

But first, the stats: Lamb says members of the black community have an estimated $1.1 trillion dollars to spend — and yet, many report having no savings, most don’t know their credit scores, and 40 percent have little or nothing saved for retirement. Furthermore, “African Americans tend to wield their tremendous buying power on products with little or zero monetary value,” she writes. That means rented homes and expensive vehicles take money out of your pocket, but don’t put it back.

The first step to fixing that situation is by looking inward. Chances are that you never learned financial literacy, and your attitudes toward wealth may be limiting your ability to understand money issues.

Speak your financial truth and tell your child, suggests Lamb. Understand the difference between “need” and “want,” and teach your child that looking financially successful is not the same as being financially successful. Set your family up as a business, show your kids how to save — and then show them how to give, too.

I was so impressed at what I found inside this book that I was uncharacteristically speechless.

When it comes to financial literacy for children, so many authors take mincing baby-steps and waste everybody’s time, but not WorldOfMoney.org founder Sabrina Lamb. Lamb’s a little sarcastic and very in-your-face, but her boot-camp-like attitude left no doubt in my mind that what she says, works.

If talking about dollars to your kids just makes sense, then “Do I Look Like An ATM?” would be a shot in the arm to your family’s finances.

“Do I Look Like an ATM?” by Sabrina Lamb [215 pages, 2013, $14.95].

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old, and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill with two dogs and 12,000 books.