I give my kids a regular allowance. It’s important for kids to be able to make mistakes with money when the stakes are low. I had a hard time with the $30 Yu-gi-oh card purchase a few years ago, but nothing like that ever happened again so I guess he learned his lesson. The best thing about giving my kids an allowance is that it saves me money in the long run because they have to buy all their own toys (mostly game players and games now), which means they have to save up for it. And they have a much better appreciation for it once they get it. When we are out somewhere and they ask for something I say “OK, but you’ll have to pay me back when we get home.” A lot of times they change their mind!

The amount you give should be proportionate to the family income and the child’s environment. For example, we live in a middle/upper middle neighborhood and my husband makes a decent income so we give an amount that will allow them to save up for game players and games in a reasonable amount of time, like a few months. Otherwise it will be really frustrating. I do base the allowance on them completing school for the week and also chores. It’s way cheaper than private school, that’s for sure.

My kids are 11 and 14. I can’t remember when we started but probably around 4 or 5 would not be too early.

Oh, and mine have bank accounts but they are not good about putting money in because then they have to get me or my husband to take them to the bank to withdraw. That’s a real pain so I am looking for a debit card situation, which our bank does not offer.