YOUR CHILD ... Learning To Save By Earning Money

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32119, 15 October 1969, Page 2

YOUR CHILD ... Learning To Save By Earning Money

(By

NEIL THOMAS

A mother I know gives 10c to her son every week to put in the bank, through a school savings scheme. She has doled out the weekly shilling for several years and he has always banked it She thinks that he is learning to save money, a good habit. She is mistaken.

He is not learning to save because it is her money that he bonks. He is learning to be a reliable messenger, instead.

If you want him to save, let your child save from his normal spending money. Increase his spending money if necessary. Then he will feel he is saving. That feeling does not last long for a young child. This is good reason to prompt him to save for specific things rather than to save blindly. Also, he will appreciate savings more if he saves to buy things in the near future. It is better for him to save for four months toe a football than 44 months for a bicycle. MODERATE GOALS This raises another aspect of money in childhood. A young child may want to buy something expensive out of his meagre spending money. If this means six months of saving all or nearly all of his allowance, you should not encourage him. Help him to set more moderate goals. A child learns all about money by having some to spend, some to save, some to lose. If all of it goes into a savings account instead, his fiscal education will suffer.

An allowance should not be regarded as “earned money.” Your child is entitled to an allowance, to reasonable amounts of spending money with no strings attached and no duties to perform for it

He should do bis duties because you want him to and because he is pulling his weight

If you want to pay him for an extra job, like cleaning the car, go right ahead. Be careful to keep the pay in proportion to his pocket money. If you give 20 cents to him for an allowance, do

not pay him 60 cents to wash the car.

You will be tempted to overpay him for these extra jobs. He will benefit most if you do not give in to the temptation. He will then learn the proper relation between work and income. How many adults do you know who have yet to learn that? Pay according to the quality of his work, too. If he has agreed to wash the car for 20 cents but overlooks the tyres, pay him only 15 cents. There is no better way to teach him that carelessness brings penalties. Many parents argue that a child should not be paid for this extra work round the house. They say that all of his work is part of his family responsibility. This is a fair argument

All I can say is that working for money teaches a child some healthy lessons. If he does not work for you, encourage him to tackle odd jobs round the neighbourhood.