Nebbermind:Unfortunatey, I could not rewind and do what you did in your 1st paraslmkhoo:[quote=\"Nebbermind\"]how do you control your kids from spending their savings unnecessarily...or rather, on things which you feel are unimportant?
When my kids were starting out with pocket money, we helped them separate their money into portions for various needs, and left a small amount for discretionary spending. They were allowed to use that for anything they wanted, no questions asked (unless it was really harmful). It was a small enough amount that they would have to make choices about how to use it, and save a few weeks to get anything much more than a few sweets! When they bought 'useless' things that broke easily or turned out to be bad buys for whatever reason, or used it too quickly and had nothing left later, we would chat to them about quality, making choices, planning expenditure etc and used those as learning experiences. By the time they were in upper Pr, they had learned to consider more carefully how they spent their money. We also reminded ourselves that how kids value certain items will not be exactly the same as us parents, so sometimes we just gritted our teeth and let them spend even if we thought it was a bad buy. At least the amount was limited and we knew we could use it as a teaching opportunity later.
To help them learn about saving, sometimes, if they wanted something which we considered worthwhile but we decided not to buy outright, we would offer to co-pay some percentage. Eg. if they saved an agreed amount towards that item, we would top up the remaining amount to buy it. And we would make them save the amount before buying the item, no debts allowed! Another thing we tell our kids is that even though their savings are 'theirs', while they are minors, we parents still have the final say on how they spend although we will take their views into account and relax controls as they show greater maturity and responsibility.
As for your 2nd para, yes, we are on a similar track. The difficult part for us is how to explain it wisely, without shooting ourselves in the foot. Kids are so very smart aleky these days...they will find many ways to challenge you.[/quote]Haha. But sometimes we adults also spend money on unnecessary things. :moneyflies:
