I know a lot of parents now give their kids allowances for doing chores around the house and then the kids can use that money for buying whatever they wanted. When I was growing up, we were just expected to do the chores. We didn’t get paid for it! Nor did we get paid for getting A’s, but we were expected to do it and our parents were disappointed when we didn’t get the A’s. However, when it came time to buy things (either necessities or toys) my parents would always explain to us the choice of spending the money.

Personally I also don’t agree with parents who completely pay for their children’s higher education. While some kids end up OK because they feel badly about spending Mom & Dad’s money, I know lots of people who did care about how well they did in college because they weren’t spending their money. I graduated with close to $80k in debt from school, but I am glad to say that with smart spending and saving, I am completely debt free 5 years later (with the exception of the house my husband and I own). I tried my hardest in college because I was spending my own money and I knew I’d have to get a decent job at the end in order to live the lifestyle I wanted and to repay that debt.

It does seem like there are a lot of kids out there now who think that everything in life is free. There’s a philosophy for dog training called NILF (”Nothing In Life is Free”). We should be doing more of that for kids in society so that they know they have to work to get the things they want.

Good luck with Chad!

I hope no more car problems for anyone… your right bad luck comes in 3s and I’d say you’ve had your 3 for the year.

Love from Texas! ~bonnie (we just got back home last night from Gustav - hope your parents’ home is OK… I thought of them)