It’s one of the ways my dad was most proactive in his parenting.

Financial education.  Money.  Dolla’ bills.

My dad hired us kids to do work on the family dairy farm.  He paid us well and he expected quality work done right.

Even as little kids there were paying jobs to be had.  Picking up rocks out of the fields – one nickel per rock.  We were hired to bale hay, stack hay, cut hay, rake hay.  (Hay was a big deal.)  We herded cows – and one particularly odd task I recall my younger brother and I earning a small income for was watching the herd of cows and recording which heifers were in heat.  I’ll spare you the specifics.  (Let’s just agree, there’s no real place for writing that skill set on a resume.)

We couldn’t stop working because it was raining or it was 4 am or we wanted to attend a basketball game with our friends.

The summer before I entered junior high I had earned enough money to purchase a used red, white and blue authentic retired mail jeep.  Sliding doors.  Steering wheel on the opposite side.  I didn’t have a legal license – I wasn’t even a teenager, but I owned a jeep. (I’d like to say that my cool status went up, but I still was sporting a terrible perm, wearing neon yellow shorts and I said phrases out loud like “as if”.)

As kids my brothers and I were taught early how to spend, save and tithe.  We were required to contribute.  If I wanted that fancy Paul Mitchell shampoo instead of the White Rain my mom was providing, I had to pay up.  Didn’t like the Rose’s brand tennis shoes?  Buy those British Knights with your own money.

We all had savings and checking accounts and we knew how to balance our checkbooks and keep track of our expenses.

(I’m not pretending that I always and forever made quality choices in the financial realm.  I charged a pair of boots once on a credit card and told my dad it was an emergency.)

But I knew how to handle money and I was given that opportunity and education early and extensively.

My kids aren’t growing up on a farm.  They don’t have nearly enough experiences doing hard physical labor.  They think changing Puck’s little box is the worst sort of job.  I’m aware and always looking for opportunities to get them involved in labor, serving and hard work.

I also do not believe in paying my children for contributing to our family’s general well being at home.  You don’t load the dishwasher for a paycheck.  The trash needs to be taken out?  You take it out.  No money exchanged.  We pull together and serve one another because it is right.  That is family.

Yet I want my children to know how to use money.  To see it as a tool.  To master it and not be mastered by it.  To value money, but not to hoard it selfishly.  I want them to receive a financial education.

And to do that, they need money.  Dollar bills.  Cash.  A bank account.  Practice.

I’m absolutely certain this is not an original idea.  My friend Hilary told me about this particular method actually.  And, like all good ideas that get filtered down, we wrap it up to fit our family.  I don’t call it allowance.  I don’t care for that word.  It’s a gift, actually.  But I think the kids have been calling it salary.  I guess it doesn’t much matter what you call it.

This is what it is, in our home.

At the beginning of each month every child receives a lump sum of money.  The amount equals how old they are.  (Obviously you can do any amount that works for you.  This was just a simple way to assure that older kids received a little more and it seemed straightforward.)

They are required to donate 10%.  Currently, we all put our giving money in one family jar so that it adds up more quickly.  Then we donate it somewhere as a family – or use it to buy something for a friend in need.  Everyone gets to choose where this money goes.

Next, they are required to save 10%.  This is put into an actual savings account at the bank.  This is legit savings.  Not savings for a new Nerf gun or a giant Lego set.  Savings for a car or college or your own apartment one day.  As an incentive to encourage saving, I also offer to match any money they put in savings over the required 10%.

The money that remains is theirs.  And they can do whatever they want with their money.  (Except buy a cell phone.  Which was a recent request.  “But it’s my own money, Mom.”  No.  There are limits.)  If we are driving home and someone suggests we get shaved ice – I’ll stop if they’re buying.  Want to go see a movie?  Can you afford that?  This has totally eliminated the grocery store aisle requests – “Can you buy some gum/candy/Snickers/match box car?”  No, but you can.  Yes, I have watched them spend their money foolishly.  Last week Piper purposefully brought her money to church to buy a donut and a bag of Cheetos.  Thanks for keeping that price point so low, church, at that handy snack bar.

It’s a small step, but it’s been a workable one.  I have to budget for this expense each month.  There are five of them after all and they keep getting older.  

London is beginning to acquire baby sitting jobs and art commissions so she is seeing extra ways to earn income.  The other kids are always trying to create some small business idea.

This has been a great learning tool and hands on experience with money.

It’s worth the planning to create space in the budget for this vital part of their education.

What does your family do to help teach kids how to use money wisely?

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