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134 votes
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What are the legal, emotional, and/or behavioral repercussions of confiscating money as a punishment?

I would be concerned that this form of punishment might end up teaching the wrong associations, because it artificially connects money to behavior which is not naturally about money. For example, I ...
Toxaris's user avatar
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93 votes
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Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own?

I like the way my mother did: I told my mother I was going to buy my first car. She listened to me, my budget, my pro's and con's and once I had picked a car I could afford and was planning to get it ...
Martijn's user avatar
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90 votes

Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own?

Mine is getting ready to head off to college soon too, it's a fine line to tread between spoiling and being too detached. The way I put it to my kid is that as long s/he is either gainfully employed ...
TCAT117's user avatar
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51 votes
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I want to teach my children the power of compound growth, what are some demonstrations that they can be a part of?

Here's a great way that has nothing to do with money but instead something tangible that's easier for young minds to grasp. Plants! What you want to do is get your hands on some heritage-grade seeds ...
Jeremy Jameson's user avatar
47 votes

Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own?

Buy him a used vehicle. Let hm earn his first "new" car. I am like you; I worked for everything I got. I started working after school at 15, and at 17 I bought my first used Volkswagen Bug for 400$ (...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
44 votes

Can my 6 years old daughter be my business partner?

As others have said, the primary thing is that you make this a fun activity that the two of you do together, not a chore. That means that you will wind up doing the bulk of the actual work; do not ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
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41 votes

What are the legal, emotional, and/or behavioral repercussions of confiscating money as a punishment?

I seriously doubt that anyone would prosecute you for "fining" your children, regardless of the amount (excluding in the thousands.) So it's not the law you need to be concerned about. Having said ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
31 votes

What are the legal, emotional, and/or behavioral repercussions of confiscating money as a punishment?

As Toxaris mentioned, the biggest problem with this is that most people will not consider it "punishment for misbehaving" but rather "cost for doing it". There will be a moment where your child says "...
Erik's user avatar
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28 votes

I want to teach my children the power of compound growth, what are some demonstrations that they can be a part of?

There are many board games in the market which are designed exactly in this way. The overall idea of this kind of games is that you earn points (XPs) and money. Points are important at the end - ...
Honza Zidek's user avatar
15 votes

Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own?

This depends significantly on your child, their behavior, interest in college, work ethic, etc. My parents did something similar, making me pay for college when they could have covered it (it luckily ...
dsollen's user avatar
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14 votes
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How can I help my kindergartener dress up for costume week on a budget?

The main thing is to be creative and 'declare it to be perfect'. For example i dressed up my son around that age as a dinosaur. I took some old green sweatpants, filled 1 leg with paper, the other ...
Batavia's user avatar
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13 votes

Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own?

I'd say put in half the money. If he wants a good used car or a new one he can work and save for it, learning to value his work and the car. If he doesn't put in the work, he gets a cheap used car. ...
Dan Clarke's user avatar
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12 votes
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What expenses should I pay for my 16-year-old daughter

Is this okay? She has been telling me that it's not "normal" or "legit" for her to pay for all of her own clothes... From what you have written, it sounds as though the only major expense you're not ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
11 votes

I want to teach my children the power of compound growth, what are some demonstrations that they can be a part of?

If they can count well then here is a a quick and easy challenge you can set them: Challenge them to place a grain of rice on the first square of a chess/checkers/draughts board. Then have them ...
josh's user avatar
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11 votes
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Ways to earn money for 4 years old

I like the general idea of the approach, but not some of the specifics. For example, for every tantrum she throws minus 20c Please don't charge your child for showing emotion, even if she does it to ...
Luke Sawczak's user avatar
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10 votes

What are the legal, emotional, and/or behavioral repercussions of confiscating money as a punishment?

Legally, a child's money is usually a child's money. There is of course the obvious loophole that allows you to spend the money on behalf of the child, and the fact that law enforcement doesn't bother ...
Peter's user avatar
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10 votes

Should I buy my college child a vehicle when I can afford to or make him earn it on his own?

The other answers mention variants of "don't spend too much", which I agree with. One important point that's missing is: Let them know ahead of time. If they need to save up for a car, they should be ...
Peter's user avatar
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9 votes

What are the legal, emotional, and/or behavioral repercussions of confiscating money as a punishment?

Assuming you're in the United States, the major legal repercussion would only be if your children had accounts under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (or UTMA, Uniform Transfer to Minors Act which is ...
Joe's user avatar
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9 votes

Should we give free pocket money to children?

Allowance, or pocket money, is more than just giving children money to buy things with. First, it gives them a degree of control over their life, if you let them spend it without many limitations (...
Joe's user avatar
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9 votes

Can my mother charge me money for not doing what she says?

I think the question here is, do you want to be an adult? If the answer is "yes" then you need to sit down with your mother and ask to agree some basic rules. The main points will be: Who does ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
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9 votes
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How to explain to kids why others have better things?

I upvoted @David Hedlund's answer. Allow me give you my experience of poverty and whether it was painful in any way. As I mentioned in a comment, I grew up dirt poor. Not third world poor, but I ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
8 votes

What are the legal, emotional, and/or behavioral repercussions of confiscating money as a punishment?

I don't think anyone has covered this. You method is telling them what not to do, but not why they shouldn't do them. This will not end well for them as they will do whatever they want once they are ...
Alic's user avatar
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8 votes
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Mother won't let me buy a new car (cultural clash in parent-child relationships)

Communicating with and retaining a good relationship with your mother is important to you, so it's important that when a disagreement comes up, you might consider the possibilities behind your mother'...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
8 votes

My parents got divorced and want financial information from me

If you are happy with the way it was handled & feel satisfied, then no I wouldn't do a thing. If you don't have some axe to grind with your mom & are not intending to get money out of her, ...
threetimes's user avatar
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8 votes
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How to balance teaching that hard work pays vs chores for free

You have two parts to your question and I'll try and address both. "Free" Chores and Pocket Money Growing up, there were always chores I had that were just things that were expected of me. Cleaning ...
Becuzz's user avatar
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7 votes

5 year-old is feeling charitable, but how do I help with direction?

I would suggest that you stick to something that makes sense to him and he can empathize with. Donate toys to a local children's home or women's shelter might be the best example; somewhere he can ...
Joe's user avatar
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7 votes
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Will a child understand what's wrong about asking for things costing money and then not wanting them, when you confiscate some of their money?

If he has a firm grasp on the concept of money, that one earns it from working, and to waste it is irresponsible, then I think the consequence you've chosen is fine. I would use the money to pay for ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
7 votes

How can I decide whether to raise my teenage son's allowance?

I believe you have two separate but linked problems here, smoking and raising allowance. If you are worried about your son smoking, talk to him about smoking. Ask him what he thinks about it, what ...
Becuzz's user avatar
  • 13.3k
7 votes

Ways to earn money for 4 years old

What we did was a combination of 1 and 2, at that age. 3 is harder, I think, and I don't really agree with penalizing monetarily for behavior at 4 years old; it's too much out of her control still at ...
Joe's user avatar
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