How to handle teen finances?

[Anonymous]

My 14 year old son has a long-term dog walking job this summer and is making about $200 per week. Once school starts back up he'll still have the job, but he'll be doing it less so less $$. Anyway, He pretty much blows the money immediately on random crap - like, why on earth does he feel the need to buy a $90 toy helicopter or $100 worth of books at Barnes and Noble?

Should I force him to put some in savings or make him consult with me before purchasing stuff? I feel bad doing it because it's his money that he earned, but it kills me to seem him spending it on junk he'll use like...five times.

[Anonymous]

When we got jobs like that, my dad made us put 1/3 in savings, 1/3 toward business expenses (mostly gas because we mowed lawns and delivered newspapers), and 1/3 for fun money.

Maybe you could modify that to fit his job profile? 1/3 savings and 2/3 fun money.

[Anonymous]

I always had to put half of anything I earned into savings, and thats what I make my daughter do. Any time she wants to spend more than $20 she has to talk to me about it first. When she first started earning money we had a lot of talks about not letting money burn a hole in your pocket. It took a few months to get that one internalized.