Parents’ Council: Too much stuff?

Mon., March 24, 2008

The Spokesman-Review

What do you do if you’re child has a case of the “gimmies”?

“I think one good way to combat the ‘gimmies’ is to give children an allowance. From this allowance, they have the opportunity to learn to budget, set priorities, save, calculate interest, etc. They can also learn the benefits of saving and self-restraint. For us, the allowance resulted in a radical curtailment of, ‘Wow, I sure wish I could have that.’

“We always wanted our daughter to have financial sense. Because I’ve worked in the financial industry, I know that many, many people have no idea of how to budget or save. So, when our daughter was about 5 or 6, we started giving her a $3 weekly allowance. We deliberately set the amount low in order to help her develop patience and a real-world sense of the consequences of her decisions (she couldn’t just fix it with next week’s allowance). She was to save two-thirds, and she could spend one-third on whatever she wanted. We retained veto power, of course, but we exercised our veto rarely.

“Not all of our parenting ideas have worked this well, mind you, but this one single idea has taught our daughter many important things.”

– Posted by Laurie Rogers

“I’ve been parenting for 16 years and still have a primary-school-aged child. Personally, I think eliminating the gimmies is an unreachable goal. I try to manage it. …

“In the Pokemon stage I told them they could spend their birthday money on it, but I wouldn’t buy it. Amazingly, after buying two packs of cards with redundant characters, they felt ripped off and stopped collecting altogether.

“But overall, I think the best defense is a good offense – carry a couple of those cards in your purse along with a tablet of paper and crayons. Walk into the store saying, we’re not buying treats today. Save the treats for especially long or boring outings.” – Posted by A reader

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