Top 3 Parenting Mistakes Regarding Money
My wife and I learned early in our marriage the more frequent we discussed our finances the less likely we were to argue about them.
We decided to frequently discuss money with our children at an early age, if we were going to have regular conversations about money why not include them.
During the conversations and setting up allowance for our children we made some mistakes. The mistakes became lessons for us. First, giving them an allowance didn't work. Second, not teaching the value of money. Third, not discussing more frequently the importance of earning money rather than being entitled to it.
Why Allowances Don't Work
When our oldest daughter turned six we set up a weekly allowance to be paid when chores were finished.
The allowance system worked for the first three months. However, as life got in the way with two other children and all the other distractions, we started to forget to pay the allowance each week and didn't follow up daily with the chores.
We learned a system that relied on us to follow up on chores and pay the allowance each week didn't work.
Why Kids Don't Understand the Value of Money
After giving our daughter a weekly allowance we thought she would understand the value of money as she spent it. She did figure out the cost of certain candy and toys, but not the true value of money. Discussions about how much it costs to buy clothes, birthday gifts for friends, and all the extras you buy a ten-year-old girl just didn't have a true value for her. We believe it was because the dollar amount of the allowance was too small.
Earning vs. Entitled
Giving an allowance each week eventually became an entitlement for our daughter. Even though she had to do chores to get the money there was still this mentality that she was entitled to the allowance.
To overcome these three mistakes we scrapped the weekly allowance and instead gave her a yearly allowance she had to use for all her clothes, toys, movies, gifts, birthday's etc. throughout the year. It was money we were going to spend anyway, but now she can manage it and learn valuable lessons along the way.
We decided to frequently discuss money with our children at an early age, if we were going to have regular conversations about money why not include them.
During the conversations and setting up allowance for our children we made some mistakes. The mistakes became lessons for us. First, giving them an allowance didn't work. Second, not teaching the value of money. Third, not discussing more frequently the importance of earning money rather than being entitled to it.
Why Allowances Don't Work
When our oldest daughter turned six we set up a weekly allowance to be paid when chores were finished.
The allowance system worked for the first three months. However, as life got in the way with two other children and all the other distractions, we started to forget to pay the allowance each week and didn't follow up daily with the chores.
We learned a system that relied on us to follow up on chores and pay the allowance each week didn't work.
Why Kids Don't Understand the Value of Money
After giving our daughter a weekly allowance we thought she would understand the value of money as she spent it. She did figure out the cost of certain candy and toys, but not the true value of money. Discussions about how much it costs to buy clothes, birthday gifts for friends, and all the extras you buy a ten-year-old girl just didn't have a true value for her. We believe it was because the dollar amount of the allowance was too small.
Earning vs. Entitled
Giving an allowance each week eventually became an entitlement for our daughter. Even though she had to do chores to get the money there was still this mentality that she was entitled to the allowance.
To overcome these three mistakes we scrapped the weekly allowance and instead gave her a yearly allowance she had to use for all her clothes, toys, movies, gifts, birthday's etc. throughout the year. It was money we were going to spend anyway, but now she can manage it and learn valuable lessons along the way.
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
The Contributor has no connection to nor was paid by the brand or product described in this content.
The Contributor has no connection to nor was paid by the brand or product described in this content.
Published by David Gass - Featured Contributor in Business & Finance
Entrepreneur, Author & Mentor to Entrepreneurs Also, a Buying and Selling Website Expert who lives in Las Vegas, NV David Gass is a serial entrepreneur who has started businesses with $200 and grew to... View profile
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