Comments on: Kids and Money: Our Decision to Let Our Impulsive Spender Fail

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:27:53 +0000

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Betty. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Matthew.

By: Betty

Betty — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:10:16 +0000

We had four, two girls and two boys. #3, the older boy, was like Matthew…allowance on Saturday, broke by Monday.

Now that he’s grown, he’s the savingest of the four, although he’s not the highest-paid. So you never can tell!

By: MLR

MLR — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Giving your child empowerment and letting them fail teaches GREAT lessons.

I know from experience, so I think you are on to something! And I have also encountered people who were kept from failure as kids who quickly fail once they get older. And they fail a lot harder and further.

The ledger is a great idea, too. Keep us updated on how all of this works out for you.

(You can check out a post on the three most influential lessons I learned from my childhood here.)

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Thanks for the words of encouragement, MLR. Hopefully, my son is a quick learner. If he isn’t though, the Honeybee and I are determined to stay the course.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

How is the progress? Got an update?

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Matthew is still tossing his money away on frivolous items. I see absolutely no sign of progress yet. Still, we have no intention of interfering. It’s tough to watch, Jamie, but our resolve is steadfast.

By: J Roberts

J Roberts — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Good for you and your honey, if more parents were to do this I feel many more ‘kids’ would avoid basically starting out their adult life with a mountain (small or large) of debt. We did the same kind of thing with our kids when they were 12 and 10 (in the 80′s). Allowances based on chores and age, were to be used for ice creams movies etc., clothing up to $20 needed to be saved for. Anything over the the $20 mark, i.e winter boots, coats etc., came from the bank of Mom and Dad. It worked well for one kid, for the other, not so much. Oh well 50% is not to bad.

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Thanks, J, for the vote of confidence. So far it looks like we are batting .500 too, although we’ve still got time to turn Matthew around.

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

I was a huge saver when I was a kid in the 70s; I just stuck birthday money in the bank. At one point, I had over $1000 in the bank, and it was more than my mother had at the time.

However, once I left the house and started college, and started working (actually, I started working at age 15) and got a credit card, forget it. I got into debt. It was like a switch of “Why Wait?” got turned on in my head, and boom!

I’m still recovering from that switch being turned on. It’s not easy. My point is, even if you’re a saver as a child, it’s not always true that you’ll stay a saver when conditions change when you’re older. Or vice versa.

By: J Roberts

J Roberts — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Julie, Hi, even if you go a little ‘off track’ at least when you had the groundwork did you find you had some of the tools to get the ship righted again. Some of the kids today get into that situation and have no idea what happened and how to start to fix it. All we can really do for our kids is give them some tools, ethically, morally and hope they turn into hardworking honest adults.