When our children were young, they did not need money. Everything changed when the first child started going to school. From that moment on, we started giving him small sums to pay for travel and buy food.
It's not a secret for anyone that many children spend the money given out for other purposes. We also faced such a problem. It turned out that the child refuses to eat in the school cafeteria, and then buys what he wants. Therefore, we decided to divide the amounts: to direct some of them for food, travel and other daily needs, while others let the child manage independently. Later we began to give out pocket money only on Sunday evenings - once for the whole week. The amount varied depending on the diligence with which the child did housework.
Through trial and error, my parents and my sister and I created rules for giving pocket money to children in our families. The main one is that they don't get money just like that, they earn it by their own labor. They need to be able to receive and spend wisely. The child does not value the sums that are easy for the child, so he goes to the next useless thing.
1. Setting the minimum amount
Children in our family. of course, they don't always obey, get good grades in school and diligently clean their rooms. However, we asked the minimum amount of money a child can count on under any circumstance. This is something like the salary that an adult receives, even if his productivity drops.
2. Increasing the limit over time
As a child grows up, his expenses increase. Our first-graders needed 50-100 rubles a week, excluding meals and travel (it was a long time ago, but now the costs are completely different). However, a 16-year-old needs more pocket money because his needs are increasing. High school students in our family receive about 1,000 rubles a week, although this amount largely depends on the current financial situation.
3. Deprivation of money is a severe punishment
The punishment system is an important part of the educational process. but it is wrong to completely deprive a child of pocket money for the slightest offense. We decided to use this measure only in cases where children commit very serious offenses.
4. Payment for homework
When a child in our family does more housework, he gets more pocket money. However, he needs to know that he has a basic set of responsibilities. Therefore, we do not promise the child money for making the bed, cleaning his room, washing the dishes, putting the scattered clothes in the closet, going to the store for bread. Everything that is not included in this list is paid separately. This gives the child an incentive to help his mother with the housework - for example, to wash the floor and dust the entire apartment.
5. Hard work costs more
As loving parents, we try to be fair to our children: the more laborious housework a child does, the more money he should receive. Dusting, watering flowers, hanging washed clothes, vacuuming carpets are the easiest tasks, so the pay is low. We set a higher "rate" for ironing linen, exhausting rugs. The child gets even more money if he agrees to wash the car or all the dirty dishes left behind by the guests.
We discuss the cost of the work with the children in advance. If we agree, we keep our promise. We also have a system of penalties so that the child always tries to complete the task well. If the quality of the work is low, we reduce the payment for it. If everything has to be redone, the child does not receive any money.
6. Good grades are not paid
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Money is the wrong motivation for learning. For learning, a child must have a different motivation than material reward. Therefore, we dropped this idea, but introduced additional penalties. In case of poor progress or frequent complaints from teachers about the child's behavior, we suspend the issuance of pocket money until the situation is corrected.
7. Do not issue money ahead of schedule
At first, our children easily let go of the entire amount they received for a week in one day, and then they came to ask for more. Then we firmly decided not to provide unscheduled material assistance to the child. Let him go without money until the next payday. This method teaches you to control your expenses.
8. Report on expenses
Of course, we forced the junior schoolchildren to report on how and on what they spent their pocket money. However, we decided that from the age of 13-14 you can already give a child freedom to manage his finances as he sees fit. An exception is if a son or daughter has been saving up money for a large purchase for a long time. We discuss such decisions at the family council.
9. Encouraging savings
Children often beg us for some gadgets, fashionable clothes and other things. In such cases, we explain that you can save up for a purchase yourself if you stop spending money on unnecessary little things and start saving money. However, we always help the child “earn” the missing amount by providing extraordinary work - for example, doing a general cleaning.
10. Pocket money is part of the total family budget
All families face financial difficulties, ours is no exception. In such situations, it is necessary to cut the amount that children receive for daily expenses, and this causes resentment and resentment. Therefore, we always clearly explain to the child that his pocket money is part of the family budget, and everyone will have to temporarily reduce their spending. As soon as the financial situation is straightened out, we immediately restore the previous amounts of pocket money.
11. Discussion of the amount of pocket money with other parents
Whenever possible, we discuss the issue of pocket money with the parents of our children's friends and classmates. The logic is this: if the child receives the same amount with his peers, he will not be jealous or ask in front of them.
12. Diary of expenses
When the children began to receive pocket money, we asked them to keep diaries and describe in detail how much was spent and on what. In the future, this will become a good habit that will help you control your expenses and be more careful about your finances.
For the first months we looked into such diaries. But then we let the children keep track of their expenses. We just needed to make sure the records were kept neat. This later helps the child evaluate their own purchases.
We hope these simple rules will help other parents to teach their children how to handle money correctly, plan their expenses and create savings. Such skills will certainly come in handy in adulthood.
- Children and pocket money. How to teach your child the right attitude to money
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Pocket money: why and when to give it to children?
Should parents give their children pocket money? When to start doing this and what amounts can we talk about? Financial consultant Elena Eidelman answers these very difficult questions in the “Rozina-Mother” program:
