An allowance is an important tool for teaching kids how to budget, save and make their own decisions. Children remember and learn from mistakes when their own dollars are lost or spent foolishly.
How large an allowance is appropriate? Experts say there is not right amount. Actual amounts differ from region to region, and from family to family.
To set an appropriate allowance for your child, work up a weekly budget. Allow for entertainment expenditures such as movies and snacks. Next, include everyday expenses such as lunch money, bus fare, school supplies. "If you make the child responsible for these ‘ ills’," says Josephine Swanson, a consumer specialist, " he or she will learn to budget for necessary expenditures."
Finally, add some extra money to make saving possible. If you can, keep your child’s allowance in line with that of his friends. A child whose purchasing power falls away below his peers’ can feel left out.
It can be tough, but avoid excusing your children when they make a mistake with their allowance. When Brooke Stephens was ten and growing up in Jacksonville, her mother gave her $5 a week, $1.75 of which was for bus fare and lunch." If you lose your money," Brooke’s mother told her, "you walk home."
One week the girl spent all her allowance in a candy store, then she called home for a ride. " Mom made me walk home," recalls Stephens, now a financial planner in Brooklyn. " At first I was angry. But I finally realized that she was trying to teach me an important lesson. "
Experts advise that an allowance should not be tied directly to a child’s daily chores. Kids should help around the house not because they get paid for it but because they share responsibilities as members of a family. You might, however, pay a child for doing extra jobs at home, which can develop his or her initiative.
小题1: Which of the following is the possible title of the passage?
A．How to develop a child’s initiative.
B．How to work up an amount of pocket money.
C．How to teach a child to save money.
D．How to teach a child about money.小题2: It can be inferred from the passage that if a child is given an allowance, he or she may ________.
A．spend all the money very soon
B．be spoiled and finally ruined
C．feel responsible and careful about money
D．lost the money and can not return home小题3: In Paragraph 4, the words “his peers” refer to ________.
A．his parents
B．his teachers
C．his financial experts
D．his friends小题4:The author implies in the passage that ________.
A．paying children for their housework is no good
B．a child’s initiative can be developed if he or she is paid for all the housework
C．children may feel lost and lonely if they have no pocket money
D．children may learn to put aside some money if they are given a great amount of pocket money