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.