<prompt> Human: But shielding children from the realities of everyday financial life makes little sense anymore, given the responsibilities their generation will face, starting with the outsize college tuitions they will encounter while still in high school. Its dangerous, like not telling them about how their bodies are going to change during puberty, said Amanda Rose Adams, a mother of two in Fort Collins, Colo. Thats how kids come out of college 100,000 in debt with an English degree. Or not knowing how and why to start saving right away for retirement, or how to pick a health insurance plan.  <response>: Both my wife and I come from families that dont talk about money much and I think it certainly didnt help either of us at all.My wife saw her parents go through law school and eventually land jobs at prestigious firms, but never really knew how much they made. She knew it was a lot - as they easily paid for her undergrad tuition right from their checking account, but never a realistic idea how much. Looking back, it would have really been useful to know for example that they were barely surviving when they were both law students, with a family of four to provide for, but it paid off in the long term. It would have been a good example for their kids, rather than just the constant Education is the way to live a good life that was repeated.My parents werent 100 silent on the topic, but mostly. I knew my dad made somewhere around twice what my mom made, and she was a teacher so I was aware of her publicly available pay scale, so when I was a teenager I did the math. To their credit, my parents did discuss about 401K, IRA and other retirement savings. What they didnt do is put it in context - they made a decent amount of money, so these retirement funds were good to not only save, but offset taxes. I didnt really understand that until I was an adult.My sister is a big example about why these discussions need to happen - she really had a hard time learning about finances in her 20s. No major mistakes, but never set up retirement plans or anything like that.With my own kids, I think Ill be a bit more open, of course as age appropriate for them, but involve them in discussions. 