“When 'tweens beg for a pair of Hollister jeans or "Guitar Hero" for the holidays, they're asking for more than an item of clothing or electronics. They're trying to shore up their self-esteem.”

“To believe the sober polls and somber press, today's young Americans are self-centered and coddled, tuned in to iTunes and tuned out to "I Give." If this wireless but disconnected group had a collective one-liner, it would be, "But enough about me. What do you think of me?"

“It's the cause of more fights between couples than anything else and a leading cause of divorce. So why is it so many of us have trouble dealing with conflicts about money? One Twin Cities financial expert thinks he knows, and has developed a unique program called, Share Save Spend as a kind of 'marriage therapy' for couples with money issues."

“While overconsumption affects all financial strata, the tendency can be magnified in the affluent. "It's very much exacerbated," comments Nathan Dungan, author of Prodigal Sons & Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child's ATM.

“Six months after Sue and Jim Pearson of Washington, Indiana, were married, Sue's daughter, Kimberly, 22, called and said, "I have nowhere else to go. I'm coming home." Kimberly had been living with her fiancé and his parents. Then the engagement ended, and her daycare-center job didn't pay enough to support her.”

The sales are starting, the stores are open late, and many of us are gearing up to spend more money than we actually have in a holiday season with deep roots in religion. We explore the turmoil many of us experience with money in our day-to-day lives — and how we might work towards a moral and practical balance for ourselves and the next generation.

Nathan Dungan, founder and president of Share Save Spend and Terry Parsons, staff officer for Stewardship in the Episcopal Church in the United States on Midmorning.

Nathan spoke at Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis.

Financial advisor Nathan Dungan has filled in the blanks with his commonsense book Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child's ATM. It's a must-read for parents, as it shows in bright line fashion how some of the little decisions we make in supporting our children's poor financial choices can lead to serious problems later on.

"Puh-leeze buy me this, mom!" Every parent has heard the plaintive wail of a child begging for one more toy, outfit or serving of fast food. In his book Prodigal Sons & Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child's ATM (Wiley), financial adviser Nathan Dungan, based in Minneapolis, Minn., offers helpful advice on ways beleaguered parents can respond. Confront the issue head on, he says. "Consumer-product companies are playing for keeps in shaping the financial habits of these young people." TIME recently spoke with Dungan”

Nathan discusses how to teach children about money.