Welcome to the Family Forum; your stop for discussion on all of the hot topics that affect families in our community.
Our discussions will be led by valued community members from our Miller Place-Rocky Point, Three Village and Port Jeff Patch sites. They are:
Miller Place-Rocky Point: , , ,, , , , and .
Three Village: , , , , , , and .
Port Jefferson: , Lisa Dix, , and
If you would like to volunteer and become more involved in the forum, please email Patch editor expressing your interest. The Family Forum is designed for moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles and caregivers all to share ideas on topics, questions and ideas involving families in our community. Let's get the discussion going with this week's question:
When and how do you begin to give your children money? How do you go about helping them understand the value of a dollar?
If your kids are too young for money, tell us what your parents did when YOU were a child and what you plan on doing when your children come of age.
We encourage everyone to share their thoughts in the comment boxes below. Stop by Patch each week for another community discussion.
Our oldest (now 20) was luckily a hard worker and still is and always had a knack for finding odd jobs outside our home, since he was 12. He is a good saver now and pretty much uses his own money for all his necesseties. He is in college so we still give hime some money for gas and college related costs.. This type of system seemed to work for us.
I happen to love Suze Orman myself, & agree with much of what she has to say about childhood "allowance." She says that we, as parents, should change the word to "salary," and that the work determines the salary. The payout should be small for young children, the chores kept simple & decided upon by all. As a teen, use the salary/chore conversation to introduce taxation. After all, we are trying to prepare our children for the real world. Suze also encourages real employment once your teen turns 15 or so. The salaried chores should be assigned monetary value & just like in the real world, children should not be allowed to jump to the higher paid chores before performing the more menial tasks. Personally, growing up I did not receive an allowance. I received money for my good grades, starting in elementary school (i.e., $10 for every "E" or "A", $5 for every "VG" or "B", etc). By high school, I had accrued quite the savings! I also started working at age 12, babysitting. I think one of the very best lessons we can teach our children is a financial one. It can only benefit them for a lifetime!