We take care of the property that has been given to the children, but not of the children themselves. How senseless! Train the child’s soul first; everything else will come later. When the child’s soul is without virtue, no money will do him any good and poverty will do him no harm. Do you want to leave him rich when you die? Teach him to be a good person. Then he will preserve any property you happen leave him, and if he has nothing, he will be in no worse a state that those with possessions.

  •  John Chrysostom, Concerning Vainglory and How Parents should Bring Up Children