I agree that parents should tell their kids how much they make. Even better, bring them in on the budgeting process, explain how much of their paycheck goes to taxes, etc.

I was raised not knowing any of that -- my mother absolutely hated talking about her finances with me. So I never really had a clue what a reasonable wage or salary was, or how much I would actually lose to taxes, or what a reasonable budget was... and of course, none of that stuff was taught in high school, either.

Even with the FAFSA, etc., I remember being told to just sign it and my mother would insist on taking the form and going to fill in the blanks herself.

I think that parents talking to their children about this kind of thing provides them with a healthier financial barometer overall, which would be useful when they start getting pounded with credit card pre-approval letters out of the blue.

Edit: Even now, as a 29-year-old adult, I have no clue what my mother makes, what (if anything) she has for retirement, what she inherited from her father last year, the status of the house she lives in, etc. She just won't talk about that kind of thing because it "has nothing to do with me."

As a child, it can be a handicap, but as an adult, it can be massively stressful. I can understand the need to be independent (especially as a single mother), but money is just a sensitive topic when there isn't a lot.