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Children Can Learn To Spend Without An Allowance...Jun 03 '01 (Updated Aug 22 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Allowance vs. Spending Money. We give our kids spending money when they need it. One day soon they will earn their own.
I am unsure as to what other people do with their children in regards to spending money. I do however hear stories that make me roll my eyes Allowance? My husband and I work hard to provide for our family. With three boys ages 7, 11 & 12 things are tight. We have financial obligations like the mortgage and up keep of our home. Along with that we have other short and long term expenses and saving for retirement. We do not give our children a regular weekly allowance. We provide them with a warm house in the winter & a swimming pool in the summer. They have good meals and healthy snacks available to them all the time. They can chat on the phone or online (supervised) with their buddies. Not one time have they missed a party because we wouldn't pick up a gift for a friend. As long as their rooms are clean and the house is neat (they help with that too) they can have company whenever they would like. We don't have extra money to give the boys each week that they can spend as they wish. I know our oldest son does go to school with kids who bring in $50.00 bills to buy lunch with or $20.00 for the ice cream truck. No - those kids do not have to return the change to Mom or Dad. I honestly don't see the need for a child of eleven or twelve to be given so much money to spend as they wish. How will a child learn to value money and learn a work ethic if things get handed to them like that? Spending Money? How do our boys learn how to spend money then? For Christmas this year an elderly uncle of my husbands gave the boys $100.00 to share (:smile: they did all take a turn in holding the $100.00 bill). We stuck it away for safekeeping. There was much discussion on their part as to what they would or could spend so much money on. In March (three months after they received the money) our oldest son had the opportunity to buy a paintball gun for $25.00. My husband and I talked it over (not so much because he decided that he wanted to spend his share of the money - the discussion was on the paint ball gun). We decided to let him get his paintball gun (and paintballs) and he has had quite a bit of fun hitting targets in our backyard. In April when my husband and oldest son were at the Grand Canyon the younger boys and I went shopping. Collectively had $33.33 from their share still stuck in the envelope. They decided to buy Super Mario for Nintendo 64. My youngest also bought some Lego's and in this case I chipped in some money so that they could get both items. This week our family went to the carnival. We felt our older son is old enough to go off with his friends so my husband gave him $20.00. The ride pass was $15.00. He had $5.00 to spend. That $5.00 was not going to go too far and we knew that. An hour and a half after we arrived at the carnival number one son just happened to bump into us and let us know his money was all gone. My husband looked at me and we both smiled - he handed said son another $5.00 and told him that was it - make it last. We spent the same amount of money on the younger boys. They were with us however so the money was in our pocket. We felt our son needed to be off on his own for a bit to realize that money goes fast, especially some place like a carnival. We make sure the boys have some spending money for special times like the carnival or a school dance. They always have a few extra dollars to spend on a school field trip. I do find it interesting that they often tell me to forget it - they still have some money left from their last birthday or money Nana & Poppa gave them at Easter. Next year Liam will be going with his class to Washington DC for a few days. I will be sure he has enough cash for souvenirs and pocket cash so he isn’t the odd man out when the kids all decide to buy a snack at night. My final thoughts on this Our little guy however presently has $20.00 burning a hole in his pocket. He is too generous :smile:. His little ears perk up every time he hears me say "going to the store". The other day he was convinced he had to buy me a new napkin holder at CVS. When he offers to spend his money in what we consider unwise (or overly generous) ways we stop and talk to him about it. I remind him that I do not need his money - I'm not working but Daddy gives me all the money I need for things. We talk about saving and planning on wise choices. Would he like a CD? A video tape? If he does then he shouldn't break a $10.00 bill to buy candy because then he won't have enough money for the higher cost item. Talking to your children helps them learn. They don't need a "paycheck" each week to figure it out for themselves. What is my point? I think my boys are learning how to think things through and spend money without a formal allowance. When they receive birthday money or holiday money they have learned to stick it in an envelope and think about what they want to buy. This is old hat to the older boys by now. It won’t be long before our youngest sticks his money away in an envelope and forgets all about it. Before we know it the boys will be old enough for part time jobs. For the past two or three years (truly) the older two have gone out of their way to be sure the owner of our local grocery store see’s them helping folks out and putting carts away when the store is busy and we’re there. Good for them. They look up to the older kids who work - and they know when the time is right they’ll be working for their own money too.  |
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