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Allowances are a good idea - at the right timeMay 06 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Allowances are a good way to help a child learn the value of money and that it isn't always offered on a platter, it has to be worked for too.
At ten months old my son is too young to receive his own allowance so what we do at the moment is save up all our small change and put it into a piggy bank for him. Once this is full we empty it, count it all up and then deposit it into the bank account we set up for him. This works for us because it enables us to save up money which then can be used to buy essentials for him if we are caught short some months. It can also go toward paying for birthday and Christmas presents which I know is going to be invaluable for us as a family with a low income. As Matthew grows older and becomes more accustomed to the idea of money we will then begin to give him his own allowance. We estimate this will be at around 4 or 5 years of age and the amount possibly one pound per week, increasing as he gets older. We would also assign some simple tasks to him, such as helping me fold laundry, cleaning up his toys, doing homework etc etc. If he did these tasks once a week for the laundry and once a day for the tidying up/homework if he has any we would then give him his allowance at the end of each week. With this money we will encourage him to save half in a piggy bank as we do now and for him to make his own decision about what to do with the remaining amount. There will not be a great deal remaining after he has put half to one side but we hope that giving him this freedom will help him learn that 50 pence may not get you much but if you are careful with your money you can then aspire toward buying something far more worthwhile if you let your 50 pence pieces accumulate over time. This worthwhile item could be a toy he wants or such like. I never knew the value of money as a child, even as a young adult, and I wasn't given the same benefit from my parents as I would like to give to Matthew. As a result of this I have no savings whatsoever and thus nothing to fall back on while we have been going through a difficult patch financially. I do not want the same thing to happen to my son which is why I think that it is a good idea to give an allowance to a child and help them to make the right decisions about what to do with it from an early age.  |
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