Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

#5: Turning your children into “Savers”

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Episode notes

In this week’s podcast we’re taking a look at the remarkably controversial topic of pocket money for kids.  It seems like there’s no shortage of opinions about what age, how much, whether there should be increases and how often, whether it should be tied to chores… and so on. And parents devise some pretty elaborate pocket money schemes!

I should know, because I’ve got one.

In today’s podcast I’m going to tell you what researchers have discovered about pocket money, and how I have used that to develop a pocket money strategy that is stupendously successful for my family in terms of getting the kids excited about saving, but also helping them have a balanced, healthy approach to spending. I think you’re going to love it!

In my Ask Dr Justin segment, we’ll take a look at what to do with a toddler who keeps getting into his parents’ bed in the middle of the night and interrupting EVERYONE’S sleep.

And a cool parenting hack to keep your iphone safe from little hands exploring things you would rather they didn’t.

Show notes

How our family does pocket money:

* Create a budget for each child with savings, spendings, and donations.

* Set goals with each child to achieve with savings

* Track goals on a weekly or fortnightly basis in an exercise book so they can monitor their progress

* Offer mini-incentives to help them reach new and better targets

For more information about each of these, take a listen to the podcast.

This week’s parenting hack

Guided Access from Apple is a brilliant way of keeping your iphone safe, even when your children are using it.