So, I’m in the camp that there's always a job to be done and everyone can do a job. That means, even my children need to be doing some form of a job. So, when my children want something at the store, my response has always been, “Did you bring your money?”
It started out as a joke and a way for me to not always have to say “no” to them, but then it quickly turned into a conversation. “My money? I don't have any money,” and I would ask, “Why don't you have any money?” Then, we went down the road of how you get money. This was a much better conversation than, “No you can't have that,” followed by the “Why Not?” game. Rather, we talked about how they can have whatever they want as long as they work hard, save enough, and also give money.
Now we have conversations about how much things cost. Keep in mind, this is with all of my children, even the six-year-old twins. We have negotiations at our place for jobs and how much we pay for certain jobs. My plan is to take it to the next level and make it like the real world, where on Sunday nights, I'll make a list of all the jobs needing to be done that week. I’ll allow them to bid on them. The lowest bidder wins the job, and if you don't complete your job that week, then you can’t bid next week…hence no money.
To me, this is more of how the real world works. Last time I looked, there wasn’t anyone giving me a stack of money on Sunday night, saying this is your allowance for the week. I had to get up and go work for it if I wanted it, because if I wanted something, trust me, I did bring my own money.
