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Children today are much more knowledgeable about money than even my own children were, thirty-something years ago. But they don't understand that money isn't something that is given without some effort on their part. The only way for them to learn the value of money is to be required to DO something for the money they are given. And for many children, getting good grades isn't something they have to work for; they have watched enough educational television to know their alphabet, their numbers, and a lot of other things that our children were taught in the first grade and later. So for children to be given money for good grades (some even "earn" money for their grades in Pre-Kindergarten) is sending a message that grades are more important than the actual learning process. And many of these children have no concept of how much money is needed to buy the things that are needed; they are given expensive toys, bought expensive clothing, and taken to expensive restaurants long before they can begin to understand the concept of how much something is costing.

The problem seems to have started several years ago, when young couples with only one or two children, and both working and making good money, began buying more and more toys for their children to keep them quiet so the couple could have some time alone. Then, to make sure the children also did their homework and made good grades, they began rewarding the children with money for those grades. That took care of what the children were doing at night, and made sure the parents weren't required to spend time going to teacher/parent conferences. It was quick, easy, and a no-brainer; the children got what they wanted, the parents got what they wanted, and the schools got what they wanted.

The problem is that, in order to make those good grades and "earn" the extra money, the children sometimes may have to make a choice that they shouldn't have to make. That choice is to cheat or not to cheat. In order to get the money, the children often will choose to cheat, even though they may know that it is wrong to do so, and that they may get caught and have to suffer the consequences. But many of them will choose to go the wrong way, and finding it easy the first time, may continue to do so. The parents, being caught up in their own concerns, may not find out until too late to help the child or change things around.

When we start giving our children too much, too soon, of anything, we teach them, by our actions, that we

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