Why Should Kids Get Allowances - The Top 7 Reasons
by Rachel Incoll

The question of whether allowances are right or wrong, is one that has been argued for many generations. Now it's your turn, as a parent, to decide whether or not an allowance is the best way to educate your child about financial responsibility. There are many reasons given on why a regular payment of money to a child should or shouldn't be done – ultimately I believe there is no right answer, it is up to each individual family to decide what is the best option for them. Through many years of working with parents and educators, these are the top seven reasons I keep hearing on the question of why should kids get allowances.

1. They learn to be wise with how they spend their money. It may help to teach them how to prioritise their spending, & learn from an early age what things are a waste of money.

2. They learn how to save money. Having a regular amount of money, may make it easier for them to establish good saving habits, as a certain percentage of the money from each payment can be placed into a savings account/piggy bank. Without an allowance, any money they receive, may simply be spent, with nothing going to savings.

3. They learn how to donate their money. A certain percentage of their money can also be allocated to donations to the needy, hopefully encouraging your child to be more thoughtful of others, & not greedy with their money.

4. They will learn how to budget their money so it lasts between payments. Eventually, most children will learn to be careful how they spend what limited money they have, so they don't run out of money. This will only happen, if the parent doesn't give in to the initial whining for more money when the mistake is first made!

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Go, Speed Racer, Go!
by A Dude's Guide on May 16th

Are you kidding me? I mean, seriously. Are you frakking kidding me? I just took my youngest dude! to see the Speed Racer movie and, let me tell you, despite all the horrible reviews that movie received, it was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in — maybe — years.

All I can think of is, um, ah, someone’s acid trip. Not that I did any acid, mind you, but from what I hear, Speed Racer is almost exactly like that. It’s not that the entire movie reminds me of a hallucination, it’s just that it seems so. . . vivid. It’s like neon signs decided to take over the world and then go racing.

While Speed Racer received a huge number of horrible reviews, most centering around its length (and it does clock in at more than two hours), I can’t really blame it for that. My little dude (at age sat through the whole thing with his mouth gaping open and his eyes glued to the screen. I can’t decide which was more fun: watching the movie or watching my little dude watching the movie.

Do yourselves a favor, go see this movie. You won’t regret it.

– Richard

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