::Welcome to Jiva Education::

Misuse of Money

What is the problem about?

Nowadays most children are given some amount of pocket money by their parents on a regular basis. In India, parents give pocket money on a weekly or a monthly basis. The amount tends to vary between Rs. 40 to Rs. 500 per month. Many children still pester their parents for money every week.

Children use this money to buy toys, ice cream, stationery items, and other things. However, it is also common to find children misusing their pocket money, buying junk food, adult CDs/DVDs/magazines and other frivolous items. Frequently, they exhaust their allowance much before the next installment comes. This forces them to come running to their parents for more money the minute they want to buy something again. Parents are left with only two choices—to let the children have their way or to resist them and thereby invite their anger or irresponsible behaviour.

Once you have started the custom of giving pocket money to your children, you cannot stop it suddenly as it can lead to their indiscriminately borrowing money from others or even stealing money to satisfy their needs.

Signs/symptoms to look for

Children demand money indiscriminately from their parents.
Children spend money on junk food or frivolous items.
Children are tempted to spend all the money at once and come running to parents once they have exhausted their allowance.
Children demonstrate anger and irresponsible behaviour when parents do not give them more money.
Children borrow from anyone they can.
They resort to stealing money from parents or from their friends.

Causes

A large number of movies, TV programmes and advertisements have created an artificial craving for money among today’s children. The show of extravagant lifestyle and depiction of larger-than-life characters in movies and serials have goaded children to covet branded garments, exotic foods and exciting gadgets irrespective of the fact that it may be unnecessary or their parents might not be able to afford it. Cellphones and costly wrist watches are a status symbol of today’s children and the peer pressure at school does not help either. Regular visits to video-game parlours have transformed into an addiction for many children. All these have made pocket money seem a birth right for children.

Moreover, some parents also pamper their children to a great extent and hand over large sums of money to them, which they feel will make-up for their lack of quality time and attention that they cannot offer. Needless to say, children are unable to manage such huge amounts and end up misusing the money.

Solutions

This is a behavioural problem and can be addressed adequately if parents become more involved and conscious about the needs of their children.

The basic aim of pocket money is to make children more accountable, responsible, learn budgeting, money management, and above all learn the value of money. These skills if inculcated early on will come in handy throughout their lives. This practice gives freedom to children to spend money on their own, and brings awareness about what money can do to satisfy one’s needs. It also develops the skills of learning self-control, making wise decisions, and saving money. Besides this, pocket money serves as an exigency fund during times when your child is alone and is in an emergency situation. Therefore, refusing to give pocket money to your children is not a wise decision.

Take into account the children’s maturity and attitude towards money while deciding when to start. Let the children decide how they want to spend the money. It is easy to work out a figure then. The initial amounts should be small and should increase with age. Giving too much money could encourage them to show off, while giving too little might not serve any purpose as your kids may quickly exhaust their allowances before their next installment.

The periodicity of installments should also be fixed. Educate your kids that if they spend all their money at once, then there will be no money left till the next pay day. Make your children aware not to borrow money from anyone so that they can avoid paying it back from the next installment of their pocket money. In order to help children make the most from this experience, be sure to give them guidance in managing their funds and later on they can do it on their own.

In case you have tried all the above and you still have questions regarding problems related to your child, you can contact us. Jiva provides consultation for this issue. If your child is facing such a problem do contact Jiva at 0129-4088152 or write to us at asksteve@jiva.com. We will try our best to give a solution to your problem with our expertise.

Back