Allowance and Money

My oldest ‘baby is now Five.  She has discovered money and that she needs it to get ‘things’. That’s about her total concept of money at this point.

She doesn’t seem to care where it comes from, the value of it, how long it takes to earn it, etc. She knows her Dad and I “have” it and she “needs” it.

This winter, we are going to tackle our first destination family vacation as a family of 5.  We told our children, well the older ones that understand, that we are going on this trip. That it costs money and that we are all going to work at saving our money to buy fun things once on holidays.

For my oldest, we started a penny jar. She gets a penny for helping clear the table at supper, making her bed, good manors, etc.

She can also loose her pennies for bad manors, leaving clothes at school, pouting and so on.

So far, our penny allowance seems to be working. She’s learning to save money and it’s in amounts I don’t mind handing out for a five year old.

Do you give your children an allowance?