My babies are growing up

It is always hard to realize that your children are growing up, and worse when you don't want them going down the same path that you did. One of the biggest things that we learned in our parenting classes was that money management needs to start at a very young age. I am sorry to anyone who is in line behind me at the store, but yes, my child is learning about allowances and taxes.

For those who are wondering how we are doing allowances, let me break it down for you.

• Each year they get a quarter. That means:
• A - $2.50
• J - $2.00
• C - $.50
• W - $.00
• 10% will go to tithing
• 10% will be taken for "social security/taxes/etc"
• 10% will go to savings
• They get to spend or save the rest
• We pay them every 2 weeks

For those who are trying to figure out that "social security & taxes" situation, think about your paychecks. How many of you forget to subtract for that money coming out? This way the children learn from a young age that we do not get all of our money. They will get the remainder of the "social security" when they turn 18 and graduate. For those who want the math ... that is 10% of every allowance, every week, until they are 18. For Turtle, that will mean $222.30 plus interest from the bank! Would that not be a nice "happy graduation" present? I am not saying that this method is for everyone, but it definitely teaches the children about having to figure in losing some of their money.

They will also be able to pay me "maid" services if I find things and have to put them away, or if they have an event and do not have time to clean their room! They will be able to understand that when a sticker says $3.49, you will need more than $3.49 to purchase the item. Today was their first taste. JJ had $4.04 to spend (he hand money from earlier) and Adella had $3.50. They had to find something to purchase and pay for the sales tax. They also learned that there is very little that they could buy and they need to SAVE their money.

What we have not decided yet is how much to pay (and if we should pay) for extra things they will occasionally do around the house. Thoughts? What do you do for allowances? We do not agree with using money as a penalty, unless it is because they are paying us for things they should be doing.

View Source

The other child who is growing up way too fast is Turtle. She is turning 8 months tomorrow, but is already 30" long and 18lbs. She wears 18 months in shirts and 12 months in pants. Our infant car seat only goes to 29" so we purchased a convertible tonight. It is 5lbs to 80lbs. She will be in it until it expires.

Tomorrow I will talk about the crazy back to school fair and the confirmation that Peanut got that said she was short. *giggle*