Con mình cứ đòi nuôi chó. Có mẹ nào nhà đang nuôi chó tư vấn cho mình với

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Dear Dan,

One of the not very well-paid cleaners (người quét dọn) working in my office sometimes chats with me about her life, including her family's financial difficulties (khó khăn tài chính). Last week, she told me that she had just got a puppy (chó con). I was shocked that she would take on the responsibility of caring for a pet when she doesn't have the money to take care of her family. How could someone in her situation be so careless (bất cẩn) and irresponsible (vô trách nhiệm) with money (tiền bạc)?

—Andrea

This probably wasn't a great choice on her part, but to understand how she could make such a decision—and to figure out if you or I would have made the same call if we were in her shoes—we need to better understand her circumstances and capacity to make good choices.

Consider the following scenario (kịch bản): You are relatively poor, and as you go through your day, every decision you make is consequential (do hậu quả, là kết quả logic của). You decide whether to get coffee and walk to work, or skip the coffee and take the bus. You decide whether to take a short break or make another $6. On your way home, you decide whether to fill a prescription or to have a better dinner. When you get home, you are exhausted from all the difficult choices you've made throughout the day. You are depleted (suy yếu, kiệt sức)—the term we use to describe the type of mental exhaustion (mệt mỏi tinh thần) that stems from making decisions and resisting temptation. And now your children ask you for the 100th time to get a puppy. You know that, for your long-term financial well-being, you should resist. But do you have the mental stamina (nghị lực)? Unlikely.

You may be more likely to make better decisions than your colleague, but we don't know whether that is because you are better at making sensible long-term decisions—or because you simply aren't as depleted at the end of the day. My guess is that life circumstances and depletion, not heedless (không chú ý, lơ là) irresponsibility, explain many such less-than-desirable decisions.

Bài trước: Chia di sản thừa kế như thế nào?