School
“Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” – Bob Talbert
Last night, I had to sit through 4 hours of traffic school. I had made a left hand turn where it was a big no-no. It was a minor offense but traffic school & the fine set me back $198. I was actually quite impressed with the curriculum and quality of the speaker. It wasn’t one of those “Great Comedians” courses that I’ve read about although the instructor was a funny guy and his humor entertained me… not the entire 4 hours but long enough to make the time slip by.
Anyway, on page three of the “Traffic Survival Workshop” guide they listed their mantra.
Tell me… I will forget
Show me… I will remember
Involve me… I will understand
I had plenty of opportunities to drift off from the discussion (I’m pretty sure there isn’t a test… yes, unfortunately, I have to go back next week to complete the course) and this gave me some time to think back on the holidays. I recalled a conversation with my two pre-teen nieces (tweens as they’re called) about their allowance and how their parents involve them in the learning process about money.
First of all, they don’t call it allowance. They receive a salary. I’m not sure who came up with this idea. I figured it was gathered from some Christian book but in doing a quick search it seems that Suze Orman owns the concept. I find it amusing whenever I hear Christians taking advice from a tribe member. I don’t know for sure if Suze is gay, but isn’t the haircut a good indication? Plus if you poke around her web site it’s pretty easy to figure out that she has a “partner” in the “Suze’s Scrapbook” section. Also note: the overuse of the golf visor on vacation. I rest my case. So I’m amused when I see her books on my sister’s shelves and speaking at their “family” conferences.
Anyway, back to the topic and her straight advice… she writes, “If it were up to me, I would disallow allowances. Or at least the version of allowances that are popular these days. When I ask young children why they get an allowance, they just shrug and tell me because their brother or sister does. Or because their parents give it to them. Folks, this is ridiculous. That’s simply not what an allowance should be about. An allowance is your first opportunity to teach your children to respect money—to teach them that money is something that must be earned.”
“So, for starters, I want you to ditch the word “allowance” and change it to salary. Yep, you read that right. Why not teach your kids the concept of earning money from work?”
One of her suggestions is to lengthen the payout period for teenagers. “When your child hits 13 or 14, extend the payment period to once every two weeks. At 16 or so, switch to a monthly pay period. This requires your child to start managing their money over progressively longer time spans. The goal is to get them comfortable with budgeting over a month. The kids who don’t know how to budget and live within their means are usually the ones who end up saddled with thousands of dollars in credit card debt in college.”
I learned that the nieces received $120/month and this it isn’t really tied to chores. As Suze suggests… it is more of a budgeting lesson. Out of that $120, they have to tithe 10% to their church, save 10% and the rest has to fund haircuts, “fun” clothing and jewelry and all of their entertainment including food outside of the house… school lunches, pizza after Friday night football games, snacks on the soccer trips, etc.
Parents seem smarter these days. And you would think that schools would be too. A commenter wrote yesterday, “I’ve long believed that financial education should be added as a requirement in our schools starting in grade school. Algebra and the like wouldn't be eliminated (even though my eyes glaze over and my stomach churns with the mere mention of math), but how invaluable would it be for kids to learn about finances as early as possible?” I guess financial lessons still are really only taught at home and as an aspiring parent, something to consider when the time comes.
Last night, I had to sit through 4 hours of traffic school. I had made a left hand turn where it was a big no-no. It was a minor offense but traffic school & the fine set me back $198. I was actually quite impressed with the curriculum and quality of the speaker. It wasn’t one of those “Great Comedians” courses that I’ve read about although the instructor was a funny guy and his humor entertained me… not the entire 4 hours but long enough to make the time slip by.
Anyway, on page three of the “Traffic Survival Workshop” guide they listed their mantra.
Tell me… I will forget
Show me… I will remember
Involve me… I will understand
I had plenty of opportunities to drift off from the discussion (I’m pretty sure there isn’t a test… yes, unfortunately, I have to go back next week to complete the course) and this gave me some time to think back on the holidays. I recalled a conversation with my two pre-teen nieces (tweens as they’re called) about their allowance and how their parents involve them in the learning process about money.
First of all, they don’t call it allowance. They receive a salary. I’m not sure who came up with this idea. I figured it was gathered from some Christian book but in doing a quick search it seems that Suze Orman owns the concept. I find it amusing whenever I hear Christians taking advice from a tribe member. I don’t know for sure if Suze is gay, but isn’t the haircut a good indication? Plus if you poke around her web site it’s pretty easy to figure out that she has a “partner” in the “Suze’s Scrapbook” section. Also note: the overuse of the golf visor on vacation. I rest my case. So I’m amused when I see her books on my sister’s shelves and speaking at their “family” conferences.
Anyway, back to the topic and her straight advice… she writes, “If it were up to me, I would disallow allowances. Or at least the version of allowances that are popular these days. When I ask young children why they get an allowance, they just shrug and tell me because their brother or sister does. Or because their parents give it to them. Folks, this is ridiculous. That’s simply not what an allowance should be about. An allowance is your first opportunity to teach your children to respect money—to teach them that money is something that must be earned.”
“So, for starters, I want you to ditch the word “allowance” and change it to salary. Yep, you read that right. Why not teach your kids the concept of earning money from work?”
One of her suggestions is to lengthen the payout period for teenagers. “When your child hits 13 or 14, extend the payment period to once every two weeks. At 16 or so, switch to a monthly pay period. This requires your child to start managing their money over progressively longer time spans. The goal is to get them comfortable with budgeting over a month. The kids who don’t know how to budget and live within their means are usually the ones who end up saddled with thousands of dollars in credit card debt in college.”
I learned that the nieces received $120/month and this it isn’t really tied to chores. As Suze suggests… it is more of a budgeting lesson. Out of that $120, they have to tithe 10% to their church, save 10% and the rest has to fund haircuts, “fun” clothing and jewelry and all of their entertainment including food outside of the house… school lunches, pizza after Friday night football games, snacks on the soccer trips, etc.
Parents seem smarter these days. And you would think that schools would be too. A commenter wrote yesterday, “I’ve long believed that financial education should be added as a requirement in our schools starting in grade school. Algebra and the like wouldn't be eliminated (even though my eyes glaze over and my stomach churns with the mere mention of math), but how invaluable would it be for kids to learn about finances as early as possible?” I guess financial lessons still are really only taught at home and as an aspiring parent, something to consider when the time comes.
posted by Nina Smith at 5:33 AM
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