Question
I've been reading through the various articles on allowance, but I need some guidance. My nine year old has always been Mr. Money. Loves it. Does anything to get it. And then spends it at the very first opportunity. Granted, he is very generous and frequently uses it to buy things for other people, and we always encourage giving to church and charity and savings. But if we say he has to save up at least $5, the minute he has saved enough to get it out, it gets spent. I love the responsibility aspect John talks about with older kids- paying for activities with friends, clothes, etc, and I think giving him something he is responsible for would be an excellent idea. But I can't think of what that would be for his age since he's not going out and doing things regularly with friends that cost money. Also, we don't connect chores to allowance, but sometimes let him earn money with special jobs. But what usually happens is as soon as he blows his money and doesn't have any, he immediately wants to start doing jobs to earn some more. I don't feel like this cycle is teaching him very well- if I let him do more jobs then he doesn't see the need to restrain himself from a spending spree because he thinks to himself he can just go home and earn more. We need to set some boundaries here, but I need help! Thanks!
