Recently, more and more children are spoiled by their parents. In terms of pocket money, some parents are blamed for giving unnecessarily large amount of money to their children. Pocket money is not a must because the advantages of giving children pocket money might outweigh any benefits we gain from it.

First of all, children in primary school or middle school could be too young to resist their lust. Immature as they are, they may refrain their desire to buy whatever they want, such as a pair of a limited edition of sports shoes. What’s worse, children are likely to keep up with Joneses, ending in a waste of money and needless anxiety. The reason is that having a lot of pocket money not only means a child can share more snacks with others and wear the most fashionable clothes, but also shows that his or her family is rich and of high social status. Therefore, the more pocket money a child is given, the more possible he or she becomes the leader of the class. This phenomenon may hurt other children’s self-esteem, making them become more and more inferior.

Although the popular belief is that giving children pocket money would teach them the value of money and better their financial skills, I doubt whether the argument bears much analysis. Pocket money is not the sole way to help develop money management skills. An effective way is to discuss the ideas of earning money, saving money, taxes, investments, debt, interest, and all the other topics directly to children. This way may help set the children up for financial success in adulthood better.

Judging from what has been discussed above, I do suggest that parents stop giving their children pocket money.