Receiving an allowance and having spending money is a foreign idea to most Amish children.
Neither LV or I received an allowance, and it's one of the things we carried over from being Amish, for the same reasons we didn't, our children also don't have money to spend.
Reasoning behind this is, a child should not have to worry about supplying their own needs. If they start saving and spending money for wants that will carry over into adulthood and cause them a lot of unnecessary financial burdens.
There is a big difference between wants and needs. Learning to be happy with what you have will be beneficial for the rest of their life. Buying things simply because you want them can be a hard habit to break.
It wasn't that we didn't have any money as a child, and our children also get to keep any money they earn, but they don't get to spend any of it until they have needs. The day they buy their own car or house, I know they will be glad for everything they saved, and hopefully they will still be happy to live their life knowing it isn't material things that bring happiness and satisfaction to their lives.
Very thought provoking this topic always is .. I totally understand where you are coming from, and, think this is a wonderful idea with great taught values. It's always interesting to me to see how other families deal with this money lesson with their children.
ReplyDeleteI do believe there is many ways to learn money lessons. We were always good about giving them money earned, not really allowance, because they were always given monies as needed for different activities and adventures they were involved in.They then had to put it away (save) and then budget for whatever they wanted and couldn't live without .. It is truly amazing when one is spending there own money how they really consider and have such a great thought process about spending their own. I was always surprised at how they would just decide against spending because they wouldn't want it to dwindle away.Thankfully, they are all grown young adults with wonderful money management skills, and, are so thankful for the lessons they learned as children. This is such a big lesson for young children to learn. We all have to work and be smart with our dollars earned.
Love hearing what you always have to say Mary Ann.
Have a wonderfully happy day xoxo
I agree there is more than one way to teach children to save. I know many families that have allowed their children to spend money and they have grown up to be responsible adults.
DeleteFor us it's easier to teach in a way we're familiar with.
Hope your day is great!
This echoes the thoughts of my heart completely. Our children do not get allowances either. Teaching the difference between wants and needs is so important too!
ReplyDeleteLove reading your posts. Have a sunshine filled day.
Valerie
It's nice knowing we're not the only ones choosing to go this route.
DeleteYou are so right in what you say. Teaching the value of money isn't easy, but children will always be glad that they learned to save.
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping it will be a life long blessing to them.
DeleteThis can be a very controversial subject as we learned when we also decided not to give allowances to our children. They did earn money other ways though and saved the majority. All graduated from college debt free-almost unheard of in this day and age. They all thank us for instilling these values in them. In fact, our youngest son just did exactly that again last weekend as he sees his friends struggling to pay of student loans, car loans, etc.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy
I hesitated a little about publishing this post, because I know it can be quite the touchy subject. So glad to hear that your children are grateful for the values you taught them.
DeleteParents do this a lot of different ways, and I wouldn't dream of saying one way is the best.
ReplyDeleteI went to high school with two sisters who had what appeared to me to be a HUGE allowance - $54 a month. (I'm 60, so this is way back.) The catch was - $54 had to cover all of their expenses, other than what was normally provided by their parents. That is, they didn't have to pay for meals at home - that was part of family life. If they wanted to go out with friends to see a movie and eat pizza - that came out of the allowance. If they wanted to take a PB&J sandwich and a banana to school for lunch - fine. If they wanted to buy a school lunch, it came out of the allowance. School field trip? Their responsibility. Library fines? Their problem. Their parents covered basic clothes/shoes at the beginning of each school year. If they needed/wanted anything else, it came from the allowance. Their father (a CPA) required them to keep financial ledgers, and turn them in every month so he could inspect their record-keeping.
They had more disposable income than most kids I knew; but at the same time, their parents were making them pay close attention to how they spent the money.
I agree there are many different ways of teaching children to handle money responsibly. This is the way most Amish approach it, which is why I shared. This round through the alphabet I was thinking of sharing things we carried over from our Amish life.
DeleteI See you are continuing the alphabet for a second round. Yay! I didn't have an allowance and I am debt free because of it! What are you planning to do when they are old enough to work? I read somewhere that Amish give a part to the household and a part the you get to keep but that is like 10% of the total. Most of it goes for the purchase of their home. Is this true?
DeleteParents do this a lot of different ways, and I wouldn't dream of saying one way is the best.
ReplyDeleteI went to high school with two sisters who had what appeared to me to be a HUGE allowance - $54 a month. (I'm 60, so this is way back.) The catch was - $54 had to cover all of their expenses, other than what was normally provided by their parents. That is, they didn't have to pay for meals at home - that was part of family life. If they wanted to go out with friends to see a movie and eat pizza - that came out of the allowance. If they wanted to take a PB&J sandwich and a banana to school for lunch - fine. If they wanted to buy a school lunch, it came out of the allowance. School field trip? Their responsibility. Library fines? Their problem. Their parents covered basic clothes/shoes at the beginning of each school year. If they needed/wanted anything else, it came from the allowance. Their father (a CPA) required them to keep financial ledgers, and turn them in every month so he could inspect their record-keeping.
They had more disposable income than most kids I knew; but at the same time, their parents were making them pay close attention to how they spent the money.
Good Morning Mary Ann. I sure did enjoy your alphabet blog this past month. Learned so much more about the Amish. I couldn't agree more with what you posted today. It is hard to find contentment in our life if we are always wanting more. Jesus fulfills all our needs and it is a blessing to not participate in the way the world thinks we should have it all and always wanting more. Blessings on you and your family.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed the series. Blessings to you as well.
DeleteI've loved every post! thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank-you!
DeleteYes! You go for the second alphabet!
ReplyDeleteI don't know of did wright that right, but my English is not very good, I'm sorry!
I love you, your family and your blog!
God bless you.
Greetings from Holland
Thank-you!
DeleteOh please do g for gardening!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try to keep up with you, now that I've back-tracked to the beginning of the alphabet!
ReplyDeleteI don't think allowance/no allowance is really that controversial, but each family has to decide to find the best way to teach their children about careful money management.
My own allowance story: I had an allowance, but it was small and as I grew up, I realized that our family had come upon some hard times. My school lunches did not have to come out of my allowance, but out of the little change drawer in my Daddy's desk - to the day he died, he didn't know that I stopped taking my lunch money from there, and decided to pay for it out of my allowance, which left very little for anything extra. Of course, I was expected to help my mom with housework and I did but I would have done that even if I didn't have an allowance :-) Chores were done because you were part of the family and you weren't paid to do them. When I got my first job, I saved, saved, saved! It was exciting to see the "numbers" add up in my little bank book!
We did this with our own boys and it worked quite well - we paid for their school trips, uniforms, drumsticks for band, etc but their meager allowances had to cover their after school sodas, chips, occasional movie, ice cream at Friendly's, etc. They knew better than to ask for more money! Most times, they saved it from week to week. They all had small jobs outside of the house when they were teens, and some learned the hard way that if they did not save their hard-earned money, there wasn't any! They are all grown up, now and very responsible and we'll be sure to give God the glory for that!