Should Parents Give Their Children Pocket Money

張貼日期：May 25, 2010 1:23:4 PM

Should Parents Give Their Children Pocket Money

Emily Lin

     When we were little kids, we always envied other kids who could eat ice cream and candies after school. However, how could they buy these snacks? In fact, they used their own pocket money to buy snacks. What is pocket money? Pocket money means that children get money from their parents and relatives. Pocket money is not very big. It can be ten dollars to one hundred. And children can decide how to use this money by themselves. Because children can use their own pocket money easily, is it suitable for parents to give their children pocket money? I think that parents can give their children pocket money and also teach them some good ways to use money.

     Some people consider that parents should not give their children pocket money. Because children will take the money to buy snacks easily, eating snacks too much is not good for children. The more snacks children eat, the fatter they may become. Second, children having pocket money is a bad habit, because they don’t earn money by doing any hard work. When they need money, they just ask for money from their parents. Therefore, children will become lazy and lose the competitive strength for their life.

     However, are there only drawbacks for giving children pocket money? In America, the issue about how children manage their pocket money plays the important role in family and public. Since April 24, 1997, American Bankers Association has started to hold activities each year, and the day was named National Children’s Saving Day. On April 24 each year, bankers will go to school to teach children how to save money and use pocket money efficiently. Besides, in order to encourage children to save their pocket money, a lot of banks allow children to set up an account without fee. Thus, more and more children save their pocket money in the bank. Some children can also do housework to earn more pocket money. They hope they can use this money to pay their tuition in the future.

     In Germany, most parents think that giving children pocket money is necessary. Therefore, about seventy percent of children can get pocket money from their parents. When parents give pocket money to their children, they always teach children how to use it efficiently. Parents believe that giving children pocket money will let them learn more about business knowledge so that children can realize what things are really needed to buy and will not waste money. One study shows that about eighty percent of children in Germany will save their pocket money. One child can save about thirty-two thousand each year.

     There are two sides to one coin. Although there are some drawbacks for giving pocket money to children, parents can use other ways to improve the consequence. Just like America and Germany, when parents give pocket money to children, they would teach children how to use pocket money efficiently. Parents would tell children not to spend much money buying snacks. Besides, parents can take children to participate in activities about saving and using money. And parents shouldn’t give children pocket money easily. Parents can make a deal with children. For example, if children finish some housework or get good grades on the exam, they can get pocket money from parents. Children will realize that earning money is really hard and they will cherish their pocket money. Therefore, giving pocket money to children is not a bad thing. It is actually a good way to teach children how to manage money.