My first job out of college was doing the thing I loved – writing for a newspaper. I saw nothing but adventure and success ahead, while my father despaired that his daughter could get a degree, yet choose to take a job paying only $140 per week.

I did what I loved with drive and passion. More money and bigger jobs eventually followed. But the truth is, I don’t feel much richer than those early days when the rent on my studio apartment was $210 per month and the only real responsibility I had was to hit my deadlines.

We get older. Life gets more complicated. Then come kids.

It’s a cliché that having a baby changes everything. My responsible -- although somewhat cavalier -- attitude toward money shifted dramatically when my daughter was born. I’d always had a comfortable relationship with credit – from mortgages to credit cards to personal loans. I took it all on, paid it back on time and never worried that I might get caught short one day. And I was really lucky, because I didn’t.

The first thing I did when I got pregnant was stop using a credit card to subsidize my lifestyle. The Second thing was get life insurance policies for my husband and me.

My focus changed from here and now indulgences (dinners out, travel, hardcover books) to future demands (diapers, braces, college). Then all the ‘what ifs’ – What if I lose my job? What if I have to pay for health insurance? What if I die?

I finally came to understand and appreciate what I’d privately mocked as my father’s extreme aversion to risk. Heck, he’d had me at age 21 and my sister a few years later. We never wanted for anything. I’d lived a full lifetime before my daughter came along.

Despite our different approaches to life, my father instilled in me a respect for hard work and self-reliance and knowing the bottom line. To me, money always meant freedom and adventure. To him, it meant security. Over time, I’ll use this space to explore the ways family values influence financial behavior, and I encourage you to share your stories, too.