Kids Money - How young to start?

[bdb7607]

I've read about giving $$ to kids so they can pick & choose what they want, but what is your experience to begin this? Currently our kids will be 6,5,& 4 when we go in October....I would think when the youngest is 6?

Thanks

 

[christinadei]

I would think instead of giving it to them, you can tell them that they have a certain amount to spend. Or you can give it to them, but hold it for them until they are ready to spend it. I usually keep DS's wallet in my bag adn take it out when he's ready to buy something.

 

[the kabuki]

Actually when DS was 5 had no problems with doing this. With your kids being so close in age(whew!) you'll probably have to wait till the youngest is 5. If they older 2 have a certain amount to spend but the youngest doesn't , you might have some problems

 

[debbiedoo]

I will doing this on my upcoming trip. I plan on carrying her money in a separate place in an envelope. I will let you know how it goes. She is 6.

The Easter Bunny will be bringing Disney Dollars from my house and from grandma's we will see how this turns out.

 

[the kabuki]

This really does work out good too. I was amazed at what misers' my kids were when it was their "own" money. Make sure that understand that once it's gone, it's gone, there's no more. They could get one shirt, hat, etc from us, the rest they had to buy with there $$

 

[megatann]

My son had been saving his money for almost a year for this trip. I work at a bank, so I'm always telling him how important saving $ is. When he would get money for Christmas, or a holiday, he told me to take it to his savings account. He also put his tooth fairy $ in his account. He also got $ for good grades on his report card. Also, everytime there was some new toy that he wanted, or movie that came out, I would tell him that instead of buying it for him, I would put what I would have spent in his savings account. Anyway, he had over $1000 saved.
He got $100 for his birthday from different people. (everyone knew he was going to Disney, but him so they all gave him Disney Dough ) I took $150 for him to spend out of his savings account. We went for 5 days, and so he could spend $50 a day. The first day he bought a $3.00 washcloth. So the next day He had almost $100 to spend. He did great with his spending, and really enjoyed getting what ever he wanted. He turned 7 the day we went.
I had a sepertae change purse that I kept his $ in, and it worked out great. Of course I paid for his food, but if he wanted candy, he had to spend HIS $. It made a big difference in what he got. He came home owing me $1.25, lol, but I told him to forget about it. It was nice that he had his own $, so we didn't come home with an entire Disney store in the trunk.
He ended up getting about 16 different pins, and he was so proud of his purchases! He also got a cute Goofy hat and a few other cool things.
Your older 2 might like having their own $ more than the youngest. But, I would set a budget ahead of time because it's easy to over spend! The dollar at Disney doesn't go that far.
My son is also kind of cheap.... He wanted a pencil from Disney to take to school. He saw that it was $1 for a pencil. He said... "mom, I could get a whole pack of pencils at Walmart for what this one pencil costs."
That's my boy!

 

[CheapMom]

My son is also kind of cheap.... He wanted a pencil from Disney to take to school. He saw that it was $1 for a pencil. He said... "mom, I could get a whole pack of pencils at Walmart for what this one pencil costs."
This is a boy after my own heart!

We do this for our kids- they are really good with their money now. I try to guide them in their purchases but the best thing I have done for them is let them make mistakes in spending. Sometime lessons learned hard are learned best.

We started when they were 3 and 4. They each had $20 to spend in the gift shop. They still have the stuff (8 and 9 now)

 

[MrsPete]

I think 5-6 is a good age to make them responsible for their own souvenier purchases.

How much do your kids typically have for a one-week vacation? I think it's a bad idea to give kids too much money. We as adults have to live within our budgets; it's unwise to give kids so much money that they can have everything they want -- unless they will inherit big money, it's also kind of like lying to them about their future. Forcing them to choose between things they want now is teaching them a valuable lesson.

For a week at Disney, I tend to give my kids about $25. They also have the opportunity to do extra chores around the house and to save their allowance ahead of time. They are only responsible for their own souveniers.