One of the most important lessons for a child to learn is that of deferral of gratification. It is no achievement to want pleasure and to immediately seek it out until satisfied. This hedonistic strategy is demonstrated by every beast in existence. What defines a human being is the ability to recognize desire and reject immediate gratification with the lofty goal that investment, patience, or work will produce something with a greater reward. This is one of the greatest lessons a child can learn.
It is not consumption that grows an economy but rather savings and investment. If consumption were key than destruction would be a net positive, but this is folly as the broken window fallacy clearly illustrates. War is not good for the economy. War is merely mass murder. It is the creation of wealth by intrepid and risk taking entrepreneurs that is the essence of progress. Savings and investment is the deferral of gratification applied to economics and business. It is the hallmark of a truly civilized society. It is the demonstration that we are not merely beasts with opposable thumbs who walk upright, but human beings with powerful minds capable of solving complex problems.