Personally,Idon’tbelievethatgivingchildrenpocketmoneyisaverygoodidea.Inmyopinion,doingsoonlyencourageschildrentothinkthatthingsinlifearefree.Ashumans,weonlyvaluethosethingsthatcostussomethingtoobtain.
WhenIwasachild,myparentsnevergaveusanypocketmoney(or“allowance”aswecallitinAmerica).Theymadeusworktoearnanymoneywehad.Theywantedustoknowthatmoneyisvaluable,andthathardworkisevenmorevaluable.Theywantedustolearntomakewisechoiceswithourmoney,andtheyknewwewouldbemorecarefulwithourmoneyifweearneditourselves.Finally,theywantedustounderstandthatworkandmoneyarerelated:youcannothaveonewithouttheother.
Ithinktherearetwothingsparentsneedtodotohelptheirchildrenunderstandthevalueofmoney.First,theyshouldmaketheirchildrenearntheirspendingmoney,whichwillmakethechildrenconsiderthemoneyprecious.Second,theyshouldnotalwaysstoptheirchildrenfromdoingfoolishthingswiththeirmoney.Makingsomemistakeswillteachthechildrentobewise.
allowance[ə’lauəns]n.津贴，零用钱，允许，限额，折扣，允差，考虑
valuable[’væljuəbl]adj.贵重的，有价值的
related[ri’leitid]adj.相关的，有亲属关系的
understand[.ʌndə’stænd]vt.理解，懂，听说，获悉，将...理解为，认为
precious[’preʃəs]adj.宝贵的，珍贵的，矫揉造作的
