Don't use Allowances as a Reward or Punishment - FIP Minute #8

Welcome to a Parenting Minute, brought to you by Eileen and John Gallo, authors of The

Financially Intelligent Parent.

I'm Dr. Eileen Gallo.

And I'm John Gallo.

Allowances that are structured as rewards for doing chores foster a narrow view of money.

We expect our children to help with chores at home because they're members of our family,

not because we pay them.

In short, they share in the family's resources in exchange for accepting certain responsibilities,

such as chores.

If your child is going to become a responsible adult, he needs to know that privileges and

responsibilities will be linked throughout his life.

If you use money to control your child's behavior, you may be raising an adult who is controlled

by money.

In treating an allowance as part of a system of rewards and punishments, you may end up

bribing your children to do things that they should be doing either to foster their own

sense of self-sufficiency or because they're members of the family.

If you tie your children's allowance to behavior, you may be teaching them to associate money

with how they act.

When negative behavior equals less money and positive behavior equals more money, they

don't get a chance to establish an internal sense of right and wrong.

One of the more negative aspects of a reward-punishment type of allowance is that you're actually

teaching your child that she can buy her way out of some of the responsibilities that go

along with family membership by simply giving up some money.

Although it may be easier in the short run to attempt to use an allowance as a behavior

modification tool, in the long run your child will pay for your avoidance of the real issues.

The better approach is to deal with the situation that is interfering with your child's carrying

out a family responsibility.

This has been a Financially Intelligent Parenting Minute, brought to you by Eileen and John Gallo.