Published: 2022-10-29
Most children nowadays get a certain amount of money from their parents either daily, weekly, monthly, or annually. Children spend this money on a number of different things, it differs from child to child. Some save, and some don't. Some children may feel their allowance is insufficient but what is the purpose of allowance. Is it meant to be spent however we'd like or on other more specific things?
My siblings and I are given allowance to buy food, but what happens to the allowance that is left over? I usually save some and maybe occasionally buy some clothes or snacks. However, as the money I save builds up, I would not be allowed to spend it all at once if I wanted to. Most of the time, when I want to use my allowance, I have to ask for permission from my parents before. And sometimes if what I want to buy is deemed not worth it or useless by my parents, I can't use my allowance to buy it. I think to myself, why do I have to ask for permission to spend money that is given to me and is technically mine?
My dad commented, 'In my opinion, if you earn your own money, that's yours to keep and you should be able to spend it your way. The caveat is, as parents, we want to educate all our children on money, to treasure and appreciate it, and to spend it responsibly, something that we did not have the chance to be educated on while we were young. Hence, our views and relationship with money is not at its peak. The allowance is another area that I think I've messed up a little on. When you guys were in Singapore, it was meant as something for all of you to spend in school on your meals. When allowance is given, we hope that you learn how to manage money. Imagine your allowance as your salary for the week. How would you spend it? When you are left with some balance, what would you do then? Would you save some for rainy days? What would you do if this was the only source of income for you to survive? How would you spend it then? It is a process and a continuous journey for children to learn how to manage money. So, it is up to you to decide how to spend the balance and it comes back to the same statement, spend it responsibly. During the journey, you're definitely going to make mistakes and making them now is better than making larger mistakes with more money later on in life.'
All in all, it is understandable that there will be differing opinions between the child and parents on this subject matter. 'It is not our intention to force our ideas through and get them executed without buy-in. We're just planting a seed and hope it'll grow and one day, our children will get it.'