Many of you have heard a child wail at his parents “I want this treat or toy!” Never be bothered by your child acting that way again! How can I be so confident? Read on.

Money Makes an Impact Every child should receive his or her own spending money. I raised four sons as a single mom and they never begged me for money. Why? I told them they were entitled to money because they were part of the family. I made sure I gave them a certain share - $5 per week. They did not have to do chores for it and they could spend it however they wanted. When I was out of work and shy on money I cut back a little – but not by too much. Was I crazy? I don’t think so. Here’s how I approached it:

Doing Your Share I told them everyone contributes to the household. My job was to earn money to pay bills. Everyone plays a role in the smooth operation of the things that need to be done. They had responsibilities like doing the dishes, emptying the dishwasher and taking out the trash. Each of them had a clip board where they kept track of the jobs that were to be done. As a single parent, I didn’t want to be the bad guy, so they had to keep track of their jobs on that clip board.

They were also expected to do their own laundry and make their beds. Then when they would get their allowance at the end of the week I would pay it in quarters. Five dollars in quarters seems like a lot of money to a 7 year old!

The Catch Is, There Is No Catch Anytime they didn’t do their jobs I reminded them. If they still did not do the job I would actually do it for them. However, on the days that I did their job I would note it on their clipboard; if I had to empty the dishwasher or do any of their other jobs, there was a price.

You can imagine how quickly they figured out that they didn’t have to do their job (no pressure, of course), but paying your mom to do your job at the end of the week with your allowance makes a big impression. I made sure my “rate” was more than all their jobs added together.

Their Budget is Their Business I never bought chips, soda or candy with grocery money. I told them I didn’t like them having it; however their allowance was theirs to spend – however they wanted! If they did get candy or sweets that was their choice. I didn’t like them spending their allowance money on video games either – but again, if that was their choice, I honored it. Whenever they wanted to purchase something I always said “Yes,” followed by the question, “How much do you have in your wallet (or bank account)?” By eighth grade one of my sons had saved over $1,000 earned from a paper route in order to purchase a computer.

I also didn’t require them to make their beds every day. If they wanted to go somewhere or be with friends it was easy to have them check off their clipboard list. I can still remember one of my sons asking if he could go to a friend’s house and I said, “Sure, just make sure your clipboard is up to date.” He looked at me, then his brothers, and said, “She said ‘Yes.’ But she meant, ‘No.’”

If they wanted to be sloppy some days making their bed was certainly optional. I didn’t like it that they would have clean clothes piled in a basket in their room that weren’t folded. It did bother me that some of my friends would wonder why this beautifully dressed woman has sons with wrinkled shirts! I thought peer pressure would work much better than nagging. That took much longer than I would have liked! One day one of my sons showed me a spray he had purchased that was used to get wrinkles out – without ironing!!

Pay-Per-Di$h When we moved into a new house I would come home from work and find dishes all over the family room – where they had brought their snacks from the kitchen. I kept asking them to pick up but nobody seemed to know “whose” dirty dishes they were. So after a few days of my requests falling on deaf ears I made an announcement. “From now on, I will pick up the dirty dishes. However, since I’ve already done my ‘job’ for the day, I will charge 25 cents for each dish, fork or glass I pick up. And since no one seems to know who is doing this, I’ll be collecting the quarters from each of you.”

I would stand in front of the TV or video games demanding my “quarters” after picking up after them. They would pay me just to get me to move! It took only three days for them to get into the habit of bringing their dirty dishes to the kitchen!

Money Matters Pay Off I believe in giving children responsibilities as soon as possible. If you guide them to make decisions as children, then making decisions as adults becomes easy. Teach your children to follow their convictions and to stand up for what they believe in, even if you don’t agree. They will feel the support of your belief in them!

Maureen St Germain is the proud mom of four self supporting sons. All of them went on to higher education and also helped pay their way. She teaches Manifestation, Meditation and is the most prolific certified Flower of Life Facilitator. In addition to the Merkaba Meditation, and Sounds from the Great Pyramid, Maureen has written and recorded over 15 guided Meditation Cds. Reach her at www.maureenstgermain.com