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| Yes | 88% | 559 votes | Total: 634 votes | |
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Add to FavoritesChildren should earn pocket money to buy the things that are above and beyond the normal things that they need. There are the jobs or chores that every child should have to do just because they are part of the family. Jobs such as cleaning their room and just generally picking up the things that they leave around. Children are human beings and they love to receive praise. They take pride in pleasing us and are proud of what they have and can accomplish.
Our son was always given all the essentials and some of those extra special things thought that he needed. He was a very normal kid, and most like kids was not fond of doing his non pay family chores. I am sure that he would have passed on his chores, if he had been given a choice. Our son did all the extra jobs for money, that he could find. He liked money, and all the things that he could buy for himself. At twelve years old, he bought a TV for his room. It was a proud and happy day for him. He had learned the value of money and that having a TV in his room was not a right; but a privilege. He also knew that his homework came first.
If you feel bad about having your children earn money for the extra things; you can do what we did. We paid for his first car, and he paid us back by making payments. We let him set the amount of the payment and the frequency that he would give them to us. This way he learned to be responsible and accountable as he would have to be as an adult. We had opened a bank account for him and placed all the payments that he had made to us in this account. When he was ready to leave home; we gave him his bank book with all the money that he had paid us; plus the interest that his account had earned. Our son was very shocked and pleasantly surprised to receive all that money. At first he wondered why we bothered to have him pay the money back. Why didn't we just give him the car? This lesson accomplished exactly what it was meant to do; it taught him responsibility, gave him pride and gave him a little money to help him on his way. We were also very proud of our son and his accomplishments.
The main thing about our son earning his own money was for him to learn responsibility and the value of money. There is no better lesson to teach what the value of money is then to have to earn it for yourself. Instead of "give me", you hear "Thank you!" and you can see your children becoming responsible adults. They become people who appreciate the gifts that they receive and take nothing for granted!
When you give people everything they want: they expect it! You are creating a person of need and not a person of independence. People of need will always need help and cannot adequately survive in our world. We need to raise our children to be good people who have knowledge and values. Everything besides love, a little help once in a while, a good wish for a happy life is beyond what is good for children and is out of our control!
I am proud to say that our son has become a valuable part of this society. He is independent, strong willed, and responsible. We guided him and he has become his own man. We are supposed to point children in the right direction and guide them until they are able to take over their own lead. Our son has done that!
Learn more about this author, Karen Langst.
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No
I come from a hard-working, blue collar, middle class family. My parents did not have all the luxuries they deserved, but we always had enough to get by. During my childhood, it seems every time I asked them for money to go to the movies, dance or just hang out, they had a few dollars in their pocket to spare.
When I was rapidly approaching the age of sixteen, I went to my parents to inform them I was thinking of getting a job at the local fast food place. I thought this would relieve the pressure of my parents bankrolling me and put some cash in my pocket to spend as I saw fit to spend it. My mother looked at my father then turned back to me and said;
"Your Father and I have talked about this, and we prefer you don't work. We don't have a lot of money. We do make enough money to give you a few dollars here and there. Once you graduate from High School, you will spend the rest of your life working and worrying about bills. Up until that day comes, we want you to concentrate on school, sports and enjoy your youth."
I could not believe what I had heard. While most of my friend's parents were demanding their children to find jobs, mine were discouraging me for working. Many years have gone by, and I appreciate more than ever what they did for me.
I do not adhere to the claim that to have a child appreciate money as an adult they should work and earn their own pocket money. A lot of the time, I believe parents push their kids into employment, to allow them to keep their cash in their pockets to finance their own selfish adult wants. Its because of this mentality where everyone feels they must keep up with their neighbors, "The Jones", you lose a lot by having you older child away at night working. Nightly family dinners, vacations, sporting events, etc, would have been sacrificed if I had to get a job. I believe the lesson I learned of love and family means more to me, than the lesson of the power of the mighty dollar I would have learned by forcing me to get a job as a teenager.
I know of one parent, whose child got a job at sixteen to earn "spending money". By seventeen, he was paying half his insurance. By seventeen and a half, he was paying for rent and groceries. It was justified in this parent's mind since the kid was working; she was entitled to a good portion of his paycheck. The more he earned and worked, the more the parent was entitled to. Did the kid get a bigger room or more food at dinner? No. So, what lesson did the child learn? The more you earn the more you pay. This same lesson is what you learn as an adult with the Internal Revenue Service.
I have grown to appreciate my parent's philosophy of letting kids be kids. You have your whole life after to be adults. I feel very fortunate and appreciate the sacrifice they made to allow me to benefit from this. For someone to make the claim, that every child should get a job to support their spending habits and to appreciate what their parents face, is a fallacy. I believe there are certain circumstances where an older child must work to assist the family. But, if the need is not there, don't force them. They have their whole life to do it.
Learn more about this author, Greg Dunn.
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