3. Giving Kid’s Money for Nothing

I believe that giving child money or an allowance for nothing is harmful. “Free” allowance creates an attitude of entitlement (you owe me) that will last all of your child’s life and will haunt you during yours. I’m sure you’ve heard, “Mom where’s my allowance?” Or as soon as your children decide they need money, they say, “Mom, you owe me an allowance!” Money is earned and the sooner our children understand this concept the better. Most children don’t understand the concept of earning their money. It’s a well-known fact that when someone gets something for nothing, they don’t appreciate it as much as when they earned it. If you give your child an allowance for nothing, they will learn to take money for granted and put little value on it.

• The old saying nothing in life is free, well the sooner your children understand this lesson the better.
   
• I tell my children there is a difference between needs and wants; they only need a roof over their head, clothes on their back, food in their stomach and an education. Everything else is a luxury and a want.
   
• Nobody in life will give your children free money, and you shouldn't either.
   
• People who have created success in their life have worked extremely hard and few have had it handed to them.
   
• Many children therapist explain to use a barter system, you do for me and I will do for you, many therapists encourage and allowance system.
   
• It is human nature to do whatever is necessary when a reward is waiting at the end. If you were to walk into any classroom, you would see a teacher giving incentives to their students with candy, stickers, tickets and anything else possible for good behavior, bringing in homework on time, or sitting quietly at their desks. Salespeople are rewarded with bonuses when meeting quotas, CEO’s are rewarded large sums of money for innovative thinking, and employees are rewarded for finishing projects on time.
   
• Allowing your child to earn money will not only teach your child how money works in the world, it will teach your child how one earns a living, cause and effect, and most importantly the value of money.
   
• Allowance can be used as a habit creator or Habit breaker. If your child is not doing what you ask of them, try rewarding them by doing so. If your child will not brush his teeth, then pay him a certain amount of money to do so, when he has gotten in the habit of doing it daily then move on to something different. He will continue to brush his teeth because now it has become a natural habit.
   
• Allowance will teach your child how one earns money through providing a service, finishing a task or a job.
   
• Many people are hung up on paying their children to do something they should be doing anyway. While I understand this, I am not advising you pay your child for every little thing, there should be certain chores children do as part of the family, and then a certain about that is done for earning an income.
   
• Look into our “Smarter Way to Pay an Allowance”  to find out more information on allowance.
   
• Your children are to young to work or get a real job, you are most likely their only source of income. Allowing children to earn their own money and then use their own money is the only way for a child to value money. You will see this in action the first time your child uses their hard-earned cash on something you normally would buy for them. Nine times out of ten children will not waste their own money on the same items they would have their parents buy.
   
• You will love the reaction from your child when they ask you for an item at the store and you turn to them and say, of course, you can have that, but you must use your own money for it. Most likely their reaction will be "But, I don't want to waste my money!" and you just say, well I don't want to waste my money either.
   

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