Analogy Case

When a puppy is brought from the pet store to live in a family's home, its surroundings become more sophisticated than those of the glass box back at the store. Relative to the old box, the dog's new home is a great expanse, one filled with all kinds of new and tempting wonders. The puppy's success in its new vicinity will, in large measure, be dependent upon developing the capability to govern itself, thereby lessening the need for the other members of the household to continually monitor the dog's behavior. Being able to function in a trustworthy fashion within the home is to the advantage of all members of the residence. For instance, a properly behaved dog could be expected to resist chewing on some family member's favorite pair of shoes, sparing the owner of the shoes the disappointment of their destruction, and sparing the dog the need of being disciplined. Even more significantly, a young dog that has learned to properly regulate its behavior could be expected to resist consuming something harmful lying in an available trashcan, something that would threaten the dog's life, causing trauma in the whole household.

Like the puppy, a typical teenager whose world is expanding into the realm of finance needs to learn how to exercise self-control in this new state of his or her life, for this new realm will most certainly present temptations, some of which are difficult for even adults to resist. If the novice is not careful in traversing this new firmament, the trouble he or she incurs may be relatively minor and easily dealt with (something like the puppy-chewed shoes). For example, the teen might let credit card debt grow slightly past the ability of his or her weekend-job paycheck to manage. Like the chewed shoes, such an incident would be undesirable, but relatively easily remedied. Perhaps the teenager's mom and dad could agree to help pay off the credit card, emphasizing that the teen use the episode to serve as a warning against the casual accumulation of debt. On the other hand, a teenager with no sense of navigation regarding the matters of money could find him or herself having to suffer the experience of a vehicular repossession or being cut off from the use of their money. Like the case of the trash-eating dog made seriously ill from the self-indulgence, the repossession of the kid's vehicle or being cut off from money use would be also be a traumatic experience, certainly for the teen and possibly for the parents, too.

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