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[quote=Anonymous]The key is to teach him about money. Until they learn what a dollar really is, the tendency to be spoiled will remain.

So what is a dollar? It is a paper representation of an amount of work that can be exchanged for someone else's work, either a product or service.

He needs to earn money through his efforts, track his earnings, spend it, and track his expenditures. Over time and with repetition, he will begin to change what goods and services he values -- which things are worth the time and effort it takes to earn the money to pay for it? In his opinion, what work is worth the money offered for it? He will make mistakes, but he will learn from them. In fact, bad purchases teach this lesson far more quickly.

But it also has to feel fair and realistic for his age. Video games are too expensive for what most 11 year olds can reasonably earn on their own. But treats aren't. Pick one reasonably priced category of wants (not needs) that he must pay for himself. Start there.

Then as his earning power and savings grow, you can expand that. We moved next to toys/video games. They could purchase themselves what they could afford. If they couldn't afford it, no loans, they put it on the birthday/holiday wish list and waited for gratification. It was amazing to watch that list change as the months went by and they changed what they valued.

Now in high school, my oldest insisted on getting a real summer job, has a spreadsheet he created of short and long term savings goals, is finding ways to save money on his hobby, looks for coupons and sales, resells to upgrade hardware, asked us to help him invest a small portion of his earnings, and makes charitable donations on his own (without asking us first (!), so now we are teaching him about the world of philanthropy and how we carefully choose our charities with purpose). He also bought everyone in the family birthday presents with his own money.

The other effect of understanding the value of money is that it changes envy to understanding privilege, and knowing when a classmate is spoiled, and who is being wasteful. It also allows them to pay attention to what it takes to earn the kind of money needed to get the things they may envy, which may mean doing better in school.[/quote]

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