Weekly Family Finance Picks (#13)

We’re constantly scouring the Internet looking for articles related to family finances and teaching kids good personal finance habits. You can visit the FamZoo delicious page to see our ever growing list of family finance bookmarks. Each week, we pick our favorite articles from the previous 7 days and post them here.

Two short stories and a quick summary video made the cut this week:

An Ode to My Son’s Piggy Bank
by Trent Hamm
on The Simple Dollar

I love this short story. Trent relates how his four year old son purchased a "Zhu Zhu Pet" — yeah, I had no idea what that was either — and why the experience made him such a proud father. It’s a perfect illustration of how a simple and thoughtfully applied allowance system can have a profound impact on your child’s development. Read it here.

Money and Kids: Letting the Consequences Do the Disciplining!
by Sandra Huber
on Soulful Thoughts

I love this short little story too. Sandra describes her daughter’s experience with an impulse purchase and its consequences. By sticking to her allowance policy and suppressing her natural instinct to “rescue” her child from a bad decision, Sandra allows her daughter to experience a valuable epiphany. Read the quick story here.

Why You Should Give Your Kids an Allowance
by Kim Vatis
on NBC 5 Chicago

Here’s a nice quick (1min 25sec) video from NBC in Chicago that reviews why and how to give an allowance.