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An allowance will help your child
learn money management, responsibility, values, goal setting,
planning, and saving. These are valuable lessons in life and ones
that will make your child a much happier, productive adult.
 Give Enough – Your child
should be able to save money and give some charitable contributions.
Saving just $0.50 is a good goal, they aren’t saving for a house,
and giving to their church or some other charity doesn’t have to
be large either.
Don’t give too much – If
your child can afford to buy everything they want, you are giving
them too much. They should have to save and choose things they want
to buy.
Set a payday – Setting and
keeping a payday will help your child learn how to save and budget
for things they want to do. Keeping the payday is important, just as
your budget would be thrown off if you didn’t get your paycheck,
so will your child’s.
Set guidelines – If you don’t
want your child buying junk food, let them know. You may also want
to set a guideline for large purchases, such as anything over $30
has to be approved by you before being purchased.
Monitor – Keeping an eye on
your child’s purchases will help you see when there are problems.
A child who won’t spend any of their money, or a child who tries
to buy friendship may need some help from you.
Expect mistakes - Your child
will have to learn how to save and they may come up short sometimes
and you’ll have to step in with a donation. Continually bailing
them out won’t help though.
Don’t use allowance as
punishment – Taking money away from your child for breaking
curfew won’t help, but if they broke a vase, teaching them about
repaying may be appropriate.
Copyright 2001 Womens-Finance.com -
Financial resources for women - visit us at http://www.womens-finance.com
or subscribe to our newsletter by sending an e-mail to budget@womens-finance.com
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