Dear Queenie,
My husband and I have always tried to teach our children how to manage money – keeping them on a strict allowance and letting them save up for what they want if it costs more than what they get for their allowance, making their allowance depend on them doing certain chores around the house and paying them extra for doing special chores in addition to their regular assignments. That’s the way my husband’s parents raised him and it certainly worked out well with him.
The problem is my parents. Whenever the children want some extra money for something they go running to Gramma and Grampa and Gramma and Grampa give them what they want without asking any questions.
Queenie, how can we make my parents understand that they are undermining what we are trying to teach our kids?—Angry mom
Dear Mom,
I doubt you can make Gramma and Grampa understand your point of view. They apparently are of the opinion that it is grandparents’ privilege to indulge their grandchildren, not to discipline them.
However, you can insist that your children deposit all monetary gifts in their piggy banks or savings accounts for a certain length of time before spending the money. That will give them time to decide just how much they want whatever they are/were going to spend the money on.
