- Home >> Lifestyle: Dollar
Savers:
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- Teaching
Kids the Value of Money
- by RACHEL
PAXTON
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- My husband and I have a 12-year-old
daughter who wanted to go to a winter retreat with her church
youth group last year. Price of trip -- $45. I told her I'd talk
to her dad about it. "HOW much is it?" he asked, "didn't
she just go somewhere with the youth group?" "Yes,"
I replied, "and also to two friends' birthday parties. Another
one is coming up this weekend." We both agreed that was
a lot of money for us to spend for our daughter to have fun with
her friends.
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- But the retreat was a church
activity. So we should have forked out the money for her go,
right? Well, maybe. In the past year or so our daughter had made
a lot of new friends and had been asked to be involved in a lot
of new social activities. Last summer was the first year we could
afford to let her go to summer camp for a week. It pleased me
more than anything to tell her she could go.
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- The more we've let our daughter
go do things with her friends, the more she takes those things
for granted, and expects more. She then resents doing something
so menial as her household chores. So now we make sure her chores
are done before she goes anywhere. "Room's not clean, laundry
not started? Better hurry and do them before you go do something
with your friends. Don't have time? Then I guess you're out of
luck." But that was only the start. Whenever the attitude
starts in she's given a warning and then privileges start being
taken away, one by one.
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- You have to figure out what
works for you. You may have to teach each child individually,
because each is motivated differently. If your children cheerfully
hand over their allowance every time they don't take out the
garbage, you should take some other privilege away.
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- Resist the urge to give your
children too much allowance. Don't buy them things that they
can save money for themselves, like
designer clothes, CD's, magazines, make up, video games, etc.
Even young children can be taught to save for small things. Almost
nothing makes me more sad than seeing children who take their
allowances for granted and never have to work for it. Parents
aren't doing their children any favors by teaching them to expect
everything to be handed to them. We sacrifice, and they don't
appreciate it. Why should they? They don't have anything to lose.
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- So did our daughter get to
go on her retreat? We decided she could go if she paid $20 of
the $45. She was not happy about it. She only gets $3 a week
allowance, and she was saving her money for a new CD. She stewed
about it for awhile, and then forked over what money she had.
We worked out a payment schedule for her to come up with the
rest of the money before the weekend of the retreat, and we let
her do extra chores to earn a few more dollars. Are we guilty
of child abuse? Our daughter thinks so, but her dad and I know
better.
Author:
© Copyright
2001 Rachel Paxton
Rachel Paxton is a freelance
writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook
containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes,
gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and
more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com.
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