Let your children learn to hate greed, and recommend to them the virtue of generosity. Speak with contempt about the riches and goods of the world so that they do not love the things of the world or attach value to them. Do not speak with awe about those who are rich and great in the world but about those who are pious and wise, even though they are poor. Accustom them to give to others, and teach them how dreadful the sin of self-centeredness is. Praise them when they love to give something to their brothers or sisters, and express your disapproval when they only want to keep and collects things for themselves. Stimulate them to be generous with the poor, and therefore, also let them give some of their own money to the poor. Tell them the story of how the rich man, who refused to give Lazarus anything, did not have even a drop of water with which to cool his tongue in hell, while Lazarus experienced the joys of paradise. Although you must also warn them against wastefulness, you must nevertheless make a much greater effort to bring home to them the dreadful nature of greed. Therefore, teach them the following texts: “Covetousness is idolatry” (Col. 3:5). “No covetous man–who is an idolater–has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:5). “Do not be deceived: no thieves, or the greedy, or drunkards, or slanderers, or swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). “Command [the rich] to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:18). “Let nothing be wasted” (John 6:12) (Jacobus Koelman, The Duties of Parents, 81-82).