Caitlin and Joshua are earning money beginning a summer campaign to raise some dough.  If you haven’t heard about it, please check out the link!

Good for them!

The kids, with a bit of encouragement, have decided to start earning their own money for the summer.  They are only 14 (Caitlin) and 12 (Joshua) but have a pretty good understanding of where things come from.  They realize we can’t just go into a store and get things without offering up something of value in return (money).  And because Julie and I have never operated on debt, the kids know that they need to have that money in advance.

They know that if they want go to movies, buy games, etc, that it takes money, and that that money must be earned in some way;  either by themselves or somebody else on their behalf.  They don’t think that money magically appears or that the world owes them anything.

Thankfully they are willing to get out, do some work, and provide services of value in order to earn the money they want to spend.  I think they are admirable.

Kicking them out of the nest?

At some point in time every parent must decide when their kids must start earning money for themselves, instead of that parent continuing to earn money on the child’s behalf.   We are not at that point yet.  I know that my parents took care of me long past the ages of Caitlin and Joshua.  Julie and I will keep doing the same for ours.

We are still providing for all of their necessities.  We buy them school clothes, food, and other necessities.  They haven’t been cut off financially.  But due to our recent losses we aren’t in a position to provide many perks.   They are at an age where those perks seem like necessities and they would like more than just enough to keep them alive.   So they have chosen to earn more.

Now there are obviously things that they can’t afford in advance that we are willing help them with.  For example, we signed up all of the kids for swimming lessons this summer.  We also bought a full season pass for the pool.  For a family of our size you might imagine those cost a fair amount of money.

Caitlin and Josh both agreed they wanted to do those things and they were willing to pay their share of the cost.  Rather than make them miss some of the summer trying to earn the money first, we covered the cost, they will pay us back, and they will get to enjoy the full summer’s worth of activities.

Drawbacks

I hope that none manifest themselves, but I have some concerns about kids earning money.

• I’d hate for the kids to view all of our/their acquaintances as potential customers.  I want the kids to be kind and friendly with people because they are good people (which they are!), and not because they see them as somebody they can earn a few dollars from.   Being good people needs to be first and foremost.
• I don’t want them to “learn” that life is all about money.  It isn’t!  It never has been for Julie and I and I don’t want the kids to think so.  Money is a useful tool for providing things in life, but it isn’t the goal of life.  You don’t get a gold star for dying with the most money or having the most toys.   I want them to do this as a means to an end, rather than seeing money as the end itself.

 

• I don’t want friends/neighbors/relatives to have a bad experience.   They are kids, and if they mess something up I don’t want to have any bad feelings develop amongst people we know.  I don’t expect this to happen and that problem could be handled with some customer service skills.
• I don’t want people to feel obligated to support them.  I don’t want them to resent being asked.  If you want bread, please order it.  If not, please don’t do so because of guilt.  They need to learn to accept rejection as well.
• I don’t want them to think that Mom and I aren’t willing to take care of them.  Sure, we are expecting some financial hardship, but I don’t want the kids to think that they are a burden on us, or are the cause of the issues.
• I don’t want them to ruin their childhood.  They only have a few short years of youth.   I don’t want this to take up so much of their time that they don’t have time to play with friends, enjoy the pool, go to movies, etc.  I am still willing to let them be kids.

Your experiences

What have you seen or experienced?  I would love to hear some stories about when your children first started earning money.  How did it go?  Did it change them? For good or for ill?  How could YOU have done better?  How did you talk to them or teach them?