Emma's Allowance

When Emma started kindergarten, we started giving her an allowance: $2.50 per week, 50 cents for each year of age.  Eventually we'll set up a bank account system for her like David Owen describes in The First National Bank of Dad, but for now, we wanted her to learn the names and values of the different coins and bills.  That's easier to learn from your own money, we figure, especially when mommy and daddy usually use plastic.

So far, the allowance has been a success.  She has already saved it to buy her own book from her school's Scholastic Book Fair: Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus sticker book.  (I don't know why she always requests those gooey girl books, because they are boring, even to her.  We read that book once and I don't think she has looked at it since, not even to play with the stickers.)

The best part, for us, aside from getting to say "You can spend your own money if you want that," is the cute money-related conversations.

The day she got her first allowance, Emma was thrilled.  "Today is my first allowance day!" she told everyone who would listen.  The next day, she came home from school very excited.  "This is my second allowance day.  I'm ready for my second allowance now!" she announced.

Later, we exchanged some of the bills for coins, because coins were clearly more fun.  "I'm sorry I didn't plan ahead better," her daddy said, "because I'd have had some new money to give you."  Emma reassured him:  "It's all new money to me."

Over the weekend, Emma launched her own engraving service.  First she cut out and drew a $1 bill.  Then she cut out and drew a $2 bill.  "Now I will make a $3 bill," she announced.  Grandma and Grandpa pointed out that no one would accept a $3 bill as money.  She looked at them pityingly over her stacks of red crayon currency.  "If it's pretend money anyway, it doesn't matter," she explained.