As your kids get older, the likelihood of them beginning to ask you for an allowance increases. Perhaps they’ve already begun asking for this, or you’ve proposed it as a possible solution to them frequently asking for toys or other gifts from the store while you shop as a family. Whatever the case may be, you’re likely aware that giving your child an allowance comes with both positives and negatives. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or a physician working at a clinic like Northwest Surgery Center, you might worry that giving your child an allowance will take a toll on your family’s budget or change the dynamic between you and your child, if they are old enough to begin making decisions regarding their own spending habits. The truth is that you should not be giving your child an allowance that would be more money than what you would naturally spend on them in a week – if you’re used to buying them a toy, game, book, or another item that costs about $20 every time they ask, giving them about $50 a month likely won’t be a big deal. Ultimately, giving your child an allowance will teach them about the value of hard work and saving money, which they will be grateful for when they get a real job later in life.
If you’re still not convinced, here are 3 reasons why giving your child an allowance is a good thing.
● A Regular Allowance Teaches Your Child Planned Spending
Getting a weekly or monthly allowance teaches your child what it is like to receive payment on a certain day, and teaches them to be smart and plan purchases accordingly. While this might not seem like a valuable skill for young children who are likely not planning on making any truly big purchases, learning to manage money this way will come in handy later in their lives, when they begin working a real job.
● Your Child Will Learn The Consequences of Spending
Giving your child the freedom to earn and spend their own money will also inevitably teach them about the consequences of spending too much on one item or spending impulsively and losing their saved up money on an item that isn’t worth it – a feeling they will not forget later in life, and a lesson they will be glad they learned early once they begin making larger paychecks as a teenager.
● Chore Based Allowances Teach The Importance of Working Hard and Earning Money
If you are giving your child an allowance based on an agreement that they will do certain chores or tasks around the household, this will teach them about the importance of working to earn money, and about how much value money can hold (ie they will be less likely to blow their money on an impulse buy if they can think about how hard they worked to earn it, and how it could be saved for something better)