Making a Children’s Allowance Fun and Exciting

Okay, so how do you use a children’s allowance to the best effectiveness? I’m a parent and I know how kids nag and hassle you when you are in shops asking you to buy the latest toy or candy. A majority of the time I just give in and just buy what they want. Now I’m thinking, I’ve given my child a weekly allowance already, what has he done with it, and why am I buying the items he wants?

So what I do is search deeper in the situation. I ask my son what he has spent on the children’s allowance I give to him weekly? He tells me that he has already used in the school canteen to buy snacks everyday and by the time the weekend arrives, he has no more money to spend on.

I’ve figured out that I have only been giving a kids allowance because I thought that was the right thing to do, but not knowing really the reason I kept on doing this. As I researched more, I found that allowances for kids is used so they can learn how to be financially responsible. I’ve just failed that test by not giving any guidance to my son about what to do with his pocket money.

What I’ve done now is have weekly meetings in regards to allowances for kids. At the beginning of each week, we create a budget and allocate part of the money to saving and the other part to spending. I would recommend saving at least 10% of the pocket money.

Make sure you discuss with your child on a consistent basis what they want to save up for? If it’s something that takes about 6 weeks to save on 10% of savings allocated, you can advise them that if they want the toy quicker, that they can allocate more of their pocket money into savings.

Try this tactic with allowances for kids and you will soon see your child wanting to save more with their money so they can reach an end goal. Once they have reached this, they will feel more proud of what they have achieved then if you had bought it for them instead.

Another tip you could use is say to child if they save $100 in their savings account, you’ll match that amount when they reach it. This will give them more incentive to save, rather than spend their money.

Try to make a children’s allowance fun so your kid will enjoy learning about saving, budgeting and even earning money later on. This will develop great money habits for the them which will benefit them greatly later on as their financial responsibility increases when they become a teenager, then later on in their adult life as well.

What do you think about the above? You are welcome to share your comment, experiences and questions below.