Allowance For Kids?
I start teaching my kids about money at around age five. I usually follow the school year and start when they are in kindergarten.
Almost every entrepreneur I can think of hates the idea of giving their kids an allowance.
Maybe it’s because they want to hammer this truth home:
“If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV).
That’s true. It’s in the Bible. I agree with it.
But I still start my money lessons with an allowance.
Why?
Because I want my kids to first learn this truth:
“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV).
There is nothing I have that I did not receive. And that’s true for my kids, too.
They first need to understand that they entered this world with nothing and that everything is a gift from God. Everything is grace.
And then they’ll be able to learn that fruitful work flows out of grace.
So I want them to learn both truths. But I first want them to learn 1 Corinthians 4:7 and then 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
1 Corinthians 4:7 is the foundation for 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
The principle is more important that the specific methods, but in case you’re wondering, here is what I’ve been doing for the last six years. (And I’ll continue to do it this way until I find a better way to do it.)
The allowance isn’t tied to any chores whatsoever. Our kids do a lot of chores, but those aren’t done for money. They do them because they are valuable and productive members of the family.
The only thing they need to do is remember to ask for their allowance on Saturday (Matthew 7:7-8).
If they remember to ask, then I give them three dollar bills. They set one dollar bill aside for Church, one dollar bill for Savings, and one dollar bill for Spending. In that order.
They are never allowed to spend their Savings. I continue to give them an allowance until their savings reaches $100.
When their allowance stops, I move on to the next money lesson, but maybe I’ll write about that another time.
What do you think?
Joseph