Reply to S/O entitled kids--at what age do you start with instilling ethics/humility etc in your kids

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[quote=Anonymous]My parents did this with my siblings and me.  My dad gave us an allowance- a very small one-- half our age in dollars every two weeks (when he got paid).  So at 8 years old, I got $2 / week.  I remember saving it in an envelope under the record player and looking through catalogs and envisioning what I would buy.

Chores were expected-- there were no rewards attached.

My parents never gave us money for anything social.  If we were going to the movies in high school, that came out of whatever we had saved from babysitting, the paltry allowance, or part-time jobs.  I can seriously count on one hand the number of times my mother handed me cash when I was in junior high or high school for something that wasn't to be paid back.

Meanwhile, my dad was a partner in a law firm.

They paid for all of our clothes, but on their terms- if we wanted something my (frugal) mother deemed outlandish, we had to spring for it.  They took us on vacations.  They let me have their old car when they got a new one when I was 16, but it was expected that I'd help them out and run errands occasionally, etc.

They paid for college.

They also modeled charitable behavior.  Both volunteered regularly at various relgious organizations designed to help the poor and the elderly.  They were ALWAYS driving older neighbors to doctor's appointments, bringing food and medicine to shut-in neighbors, things like that.

I feel like they taught us that they would pay for all of the "important" things in life that they felt we deserved and that they had worked hard for-- food, clothing, shelter, education.  When it came to frivolity, we *knew* that they could have given us money for anything, but they just weren't going to do it.  They wanted us to value the hard work that went into it, and they wanted us to evaluate how much we really needed / wanted the item, etc.  They also knew that none of us had aspirations of being doctors or corporate lawyers or investment bankers.  Bro and I are in academia, sis is an engineer.  [/quote]

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