by Das Govind

Created on: January 27, 2010   Last Updated: January 29, 2010

How much allowance should your kids get?

Children need to be able to manage their own money. This is very important and in times gone by, many parents have managed to spoil their children by giving them too much spending money. Parents need to be able to set boundaries, and these children that are getting too much spending money need to be given a cut in their allowances.

It is not an easy question to really determine how much allowance a parent needs to give to his/her child. Children need to learn to save money for those little luxuries, but at the same time I think that it is totally unfair for parents to deprive their children of an allowance. At the same time children do not need too much of money, as their basic needs such as housing, food and clothes are being met. Children though need to be able to get a set amount of money each month, so that they can budget how much they will spend each month. This is very important, and it is up to the parents to be able to help the children to budget each and every month.

The amount of money given as an allowance will depend on the country that the child staying, and the relation of how much spending other children living in the same neighbourhood or going to the same school are getting. ideally parents will be providing the child with lunch, and transport everyday, so the rest of the money should be used for going out with friends or just giving out donations for school activities. Some parents may not be well off than others, and they have to give the child a set amount of money for their allowances, but unfortunately some children will have to learn to budget, for things like transport, books and clothes. Some children may also have to save money every month, so that at a certain month they can buy something nice. Children who are paying for their own transport to and from school, and their own clothes should be getting proportionally more than children who are just paying for entertainment and other items, such as gifts for friends. Children who are applying for items such as transport will need to budget very carefully, and may not be able mange buying too much of luxury items. This is sad, but the really of the situation.

Anyway, children who learn to budget from a young age will be very careful with their money when they grow up, and not incur a lot of debt.

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