How To Give Kids Pocket Money - 1

I am hopeless at giving out pocket money. For a variety of reasons...


a) I actually think our kids get loads of rewards for the things they do: praise, encouragement, treats etc. Why give them cash too?
b) our kids have so many things I just don't know if giving them more money to buy more things is the way to teach them about currency.
c) we have a job chart, which has little magnetic Mr Men on them. They are on the fridge at just the right height for BabyCool to get to. No matter how hard we try, we cannot stop him from pulling all the little men off the charts and putting them into his sweet mouth... sigh.
d) our girls do their jobs in the mornings when I am rushing around packing lunches, getting washing done, showering and rescuing little Mr Men magnets from BabyCool's glottis etc. It just doesn't always happen in an organised way. (The putting magnets on the job chart thing - not the getting ready for school thing.)
e) Mr Cool never remembers
f) neither do I


But, Mr Cool and I think that talking about money with our kids is important. We both come from very different families who treated money in very different ways. It has been an interesting journey to come to a place where we are on the same page financially.


We want our children to understand that money is something to be earnt and then used wisely. We don't want our children to associate fun with the $ sign. We work hard at providing opportunities to have fun with little or no money outlays. This is both to save our monthly cash amount and also to ensure our kids learn that fun is free! We have picnics, go for walks and bike rides, we make our dining room into a cafe, we play board games, we jump on the trampoline together and we visit people. We hardly ever have take-away, as I just love cooking and can whip up tasty, healthy meals easily and quickly. I also bake a lot with the girls and we talk often about how relationships mean more than things.  I think we are doing really well at this aspect of parenting - yay us!


Mr Cool emailed me an article written by Scott Pape - the Bare Foot Investor - about pocket money a few weeks ago. It made lots of sense to us. And got us thinking more about how to talk to our kids about money. Pape says that children should earn their pocket money as this is what it is like in the real world. I agree. 

Pape also outlined how to dish out the cash. Basically, Pape says that pocket money should be in three clear containers, clearly labelled with these three labels:

• Saving
• Spending
• Giving

I find this refreshing. So simple. I like that Pape recognises 'Giving' as a good use of money, I think it is so important to teach children about the importance of helping others. As well as saving, of course. I think it is great that children learn that you can't spend all of your money on fun stuff, that needs to be planned for.

I have been saving all the pasta sauce, apple sauce and jam jars for a while and finally have six {for two money hungry little girls}. I made the labels on the computer, which I Xyroned onto the jars. I used aqua for Miss A and purpley pink for Miss Z. I added some bling to make them a bit sparkly and girly. Now we can start looking at pocket money in a more visual way.

I hope that this new method of pocket money works for us. It will require talking to our kids, which is a good thing. And being visual, I am hoping that we keep up to date with it. 


There is another post to come about Pocket Money. It is right where we are at at the moment, so I have lots to say about it!

You can read the article Scott Pape wrote in full here....

Barefoot investor wrote this article about money

How do you do pocket money? Does it work? Do you let your kids buy lollies with their loot?