teach the children well.

I'm on a parenting kick. So here's the next installment: Allowance and what it's good for.

Halfway through Catherine's first year of school our parish sent home a children's collection envelope. We decided that this would be a good time to start teaching Catherine about charitable giving as well as financial responsibility. She was five at the time so clearly she wasn't going to become a financial expert anytime soon, we just wanted to help her understand the value of money.

In general we are not in the habit of buying luxury items for our kids randomly. The two times a year our kids get "stuff" is birthdays and Christmas (and sometimes Easter). Throughout the year we will make sure that their needs are met, but new toys and treasures are a rare treat. This lifestyle does not prevent our children from wanting the world, it just teaches them that they can expect the world only on holidays.

At age 5 we decided that Catherine would get $.50 a week. I know that this isn't much, but it's enough for a five year old and over time it adds up. We had her put an additional $.50 in her church envelope. Every Sunday we would sit at the table and dole out the money. There were no strings attached to the allowance it was just given. Though we've never had a set chore list, there is an expectation that when we ask you to do a task you do it.

Overtime Catherine would have a build-up of money and that's when we would ask her what she wants to do with her money. There is no limit to what she can do with her allowance, we have always made that very clear. Most of the time Catherine uses hers for books. It gives her a sense of pride to take her hard-earned money and buy something that she really wants that we might otherwise pass up.

As Catherine has gotten older the allowance structure has changed a bit. She now earns $1 a week, and there are strings attached. Stephen is now earning money as well ($.50/week), no strings. Because Catherine is older she is more capable of understanding there are consequences to her actions she has the ability to lose part of her allowance if her behavior warrants it. If she acts up she is warned, if she doesn't change her behavior she loses $.25 at a time. We settle up every Sunday (and all four kids fill out church envelopes).

Giving our kids allowance has really helped them understand the value of things. Catherine sees the cost of things and really thinks about weather its worth emptying her bank. She loves to watch her bank fill up with money, and loves even more taking her money to buy something. Recently she was paging through the scholastic book club and was trying to decide what book she wanted to spend her money on, in the end we made a deal. There was a three book set that she wanted for $12 we made her put $4 in and we supplied the rest. When the books come in we keep two and she gets one. We will let her earn the other two (through good behavior/deeds) at a later date. Now she wants to save up money to buy American girl products. I'll admit, Stephen is less focused on saving and spending his money. He's been earning since September and has only bought one thing, at this point I'm guessing he has quite a bit of money saved up.

The second great lesson they are learning is being charitable. Every week they give money in their church envelopes. It's not a lot of money, but it's enough for them to understand what charity is. I try to explain to them that we are giving to the church in an effort to give back to God as a way of giving thanks for all of our blessings. In our times of need the Lord has always provided for us, and so it is only natural for us to give what we can when we can. We try to do this not only by giving money but by doing things for people. And when the kids ask why we are doing what we do, we explain to them that it is the right thing to do, and it's what Jesus wants of us.

I suppose what we have taught our kids has sunk in on some level because our kids are slowly showing a generous spirit from time to time. Last Monday I had the news on and footage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan was on. Catherine was amazed (as was I) by the total devastation. After seeing what has happened she declared: I have to give up my allowance this week for these people. At that moment I could not be prouder, she didn't even hesitate. She sees a need greater than her own and has decided that she can do without for a week if it means helping someone else. We know $1 wont get very far, but for her $1 is what she has to give and that's all that matters.

Giving our kids allowance has been a good learning experience for us. Making them fill out church envelopes and filling them has also been a good instructional tool. Both have given us the opportunity to teach our kids about the value of money, goods and generosity. I know that we are not giving our kids a lot of money each week but that's not really the point. The point of the exercise is to teach them how to save not to allow them to get the things they want faster. As they get older we may have to increase their earnings but with that will come more responsibility on their part. For now what they get is enough for them, and for us too.