talking money allowances with kids children

We’re in our second week of school and I still haven’t brought myself to give my daughter the allowance I had thought I would be giving her as soon as she became a kindergartener. Just last week I shared an article over at Babble titled “7 Tips for Teaching Young Kids About Money and Managing an Allowance” where I mention:

I recently had the chance to join a webinar titled “Moms Talking Money,” presented by Women & Co, a service of Citi that is dedicated to helping women strengthen their financial futures, where Linda Descano, President and CEO, told us that kindergarten is actually an ideal time to give kids their first allowance and introduce them to the concept of money beyond knowing their coins. Best practice, according to Descano and other experts, is to give them one dollar per year of age. In this case, my girl will get $5 dollars each week. Some parents decide to do it bi-weekly, and that’s fine too.

This advice really resonated with me and sounded logical because more than teaching my daughter about how to earn money, I’m interested in her learning what to do with it once she has it. I’m a strong believer that we must first focus on developing our passions and finding out what we’re good amazing at and encourage our kids to do the same by going after that with no regret. Yes, that means developing more than a work ethic, it requires a go-getter attitude and abundance will follow.

So, unlike most, I won’t make my daughter “work” for her allowance. She’s only five. That doesn’t mean that she’s not expected to do her share around the house, but she will do it because she’s part of the family and we all take care of each other together.

Her allowance will be something else that she will need to take care of and decide if she will spend it, save it or donate it. She has those options and I want her to learn money management that way.

Now, why haven’t I done it yet? I think it’s because there’s been too much coming her way in the last two weeks. As soon as I feel she’s settled into her new life, I will have the allowance and money management talk with her and she’ll get $5 every Sunday. We’ll use that time to talk about what she plans to do with it, how it can stretch further or help others, and in turn help herself by giving.

How do you tackle the issue of allowance and money with your kids? Is giving an allowance to a 5-year-old too soon or just right?

Would love to know what you think and will give a $50 Citibank gift card* to two of you who answer in the comments below and to two who share in the forum at SpanglishBaby Playground.

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*Redemption of gift card is governed by gift card terms

{Photo by chris.vandyk on flickr}

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