by Martin Jacobs

Created on: March 24, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

Family values: Should older children earn their pocket money?

Absolutely they should earn it. It didn't hurt me when I was growing up to have to earn money to buy what I wanted. In fact ti helped me a lot. It taught me the value of money and responsibility. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment and pride in myself that I have kept until this day. Something that you work for always means more than something that is just handed to you. Don't you think?

I grew up in an economically depressed area where money was hard to come by. If you wanted something you earned it. That was just the way things were at our house. I was taught from a very young age that "money doesn't grow on trees". I was taught that anything worth having was worth working for. I don't mean to say that my parents never bought me anything or gave me something "just because", they did at times. What I am saying is that I DID have to work for pocket money. Of course back in my day (rolls eyes, I sound old don't I?) it wasn't called "pocket money" it was called an allowance.

I remember my dad telling me about what I thought of at the time as a "special quarter". He could take a quarter, go to the movies, buy a soft drink, candy and popcorn and still have change left. I always wanted one of those quarters. I could take a quarter and a penny and get an ice cream cone at the local drive in and I thought that was a big deal. Heck, you can't even buy a newspaper for a quarter now!

Where I grew up there were always chores to do. Something somewhere always needed doing. If I did my chores I got my allowance; if I didn't tough for me. I usually made sure I did my chores! I liked having money in my pocket.

I started out (when I was eight or nine) getting a dollar a week. Yeah I know, that doesn't sound like much but to me it was. I could buy whatever I wanted with my dollar. Usually I "wasted" it on a book or writing tablet. Sometimes though I would splurge and buy candy or comic books. There was a store that sold used comics books for five or ten cents each, depending on the quality and age. That's a story for another time though. I could go into that store and buy enough comic books to last me a week and still have change enough to get a coke and candy bar if I shopped smart. I had a list of chores that I had to do to get that dollar. I had to gather wood and coal for the fire, take the ashes out, make sure the animals were fed and and watered for my allowance in the winter time. In the summer there was still

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