As an adult, a child will continue to hone his responsible skills through various things, one of which is by giving pocket money to children.
Snack money can be something special for children. This is their first experience with money and transaction processing. With this amount of money children can buy and get the things, toys or experiences they want.
However, is it necessary to give pocket money to children? Check out the explanation below!
Need to Give Snack Money to Children?
1. When is the right time to give pocket money to children?
Actually, there is no specific time that can be considered as a benchmark for parents to give pocket money to their children. They can start trying to receive and manage pocket money when they need their own money to buy something, already understand the importance of saving, and understand how to manage their own money.
Fortunately, the time to give pocket money generally coincides with the time they have started school. Because pocket money given weekly or monthly can build positive financial habits in children by setting it themselves to meet their needs at school.
Thus, it can also be an easy way for parents to monitor their children and assess their children's habits and abilities in managing finances, then educate them according to their character and needs.
Read also: Creative Ways to Teach Children to Save: Worth Trying, Here!
2. How to Determine the Right Amount of Snack?
Before giving pocket money and knowing the right amount, you need to understand what you expect your children to do when you give them pocket money.
How much money should be given to them depends on the conditions and circumstances. Some important things that you need to consider in determining the amount of pocket money are the family budget, expectations for the use of the child's pocket money, and what needs the child will buy.
Snack money does not need to be given in very large amounts. The most important thing is that you understand the child's needs and what the pocket money is for. Give them the confidence to learn to manage spending money and save money on their own. However, keep bombing and direct them not to be careless in managing finances.
3. Give Understanding About Money
Regardless of their age and whether they know money or not, give an explanation of money from the most basic things like what money is, its uses, the purpose of having money, and what to do with money.
Explain to children what pocket money they receive and what not to buy using the allowance.
Help children understand the amount of money they receive according to their needs. Because, every family has different financial conditions and family budgets and there is nothing wrong with giving children an understanding of this.
You can also give your child pocket money for different periods of time, for example, per day, per week, or per month. Adjust it according to your family's budget and financial capabilities, and stick to the schedule agreement for giving pocket money to your children as much as possible.
4. Teach Them in Managing Personal Finances
After giving them an understanding of money, you can teach them about managing personal finances.
Children's allowance not only helps them in getting the things they want, but also becomes a way for parents to teach their children how to manage money.
You can guide your child to divide the money to use, save for later and save. Children can also learn to adapt to managing money, by balancing income and expenses.
When there is a toy that the child wants, Mama can teach the child to save first to buy it. Of course, saving money requires a long process, and from there children learn to appreciate the value of money and the effort to get it.
5. Need to withdraw pocket money as a form of punishment?
A child certainly will not always do the right thing. There will be times when they make mistakes in managing finances. This is very reasonable because they are learning to take care of their own finances.
However, now a question arises. should you withdraw or limit the child's allowance as a punishment?
Reducing pocket money in a reasonable amount and children can still use for their main needs (meals, transportation) Can be a fairly effective learning. This can be a form of punishment that educates and does not harm the child physically and psychologically.
As long as it doesn't hinder their main needs and interests in their activities, there's nothing wrong with reducing or limiting their pocket money within a certain period of time.
Here are some explanations about giving pocket money to children. By giving them pocket money, things like responsibilities, budgeting, prioritization, and financial literacy can be easily taught to them.
To help you manage and monitor your child's spending and income, Whiz has many features that can help you do just that!
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