I might be weird but really I do not understand giving your child money. I never got money as a child, ever. I just got things on birthdays and Christmas, that was it. We went without a LOT mostly because we didn't have a lot of money. This taught me to really value the things I do have, and not to expect anything. I also never got into the consumer culture.
The most common reason I have heard is that there are psychological benefits from a child having a sense of responsibility and ownership of the money, as well as learning the value of the money.
There is also the fact that, in some cases, a child better knows how to spend money to make himself happy then his/her parent. Obviously this is not true for every type of expenditure, but if you are going to spend $X to buy your child luxieries like new toys, it seems reasonable that your child would be better informed in how to spend part that money. Or, you can decide what you think (s)he wants, and buy it for him/her on arbitrary dates such as Christmas or birthdays.
Did you never get cash for birthdays or Christmas? I had a sizable number of friends growing up who claimed to "get no allowance", but they spent a shocking amount on frivolities. Turns out their annual gifts-received line item was significantly more than the pittance I received for allowance, annualized.
Not saying that was your situation, just remembering my annoyance at my friends dishonesty/innumeracy.
>Did you never get cash for birthdays or Christmas?
Nope, never. I never had cash, ever. Not ever a dollar until I started worked at 16. Actually, that's not true, a couple times I went on a field trip to a big city and I got $20 to spend there. My grandparents gave me savings bonds once in a while on birthdays which I still have, but I never cashed them in. The rest of my relatives were much poorer than us. A couple had their power shut off. They certainly weren't giving me money.
Even if I did have money, I don't know how I would have the ability to ever spend it. My parents hardly even went out shopping unless they were going out for something specific they needed. When kids have cash do they just get taken to the store once in a while to browse or something? Do people just go to the store aimlessly to look for things to buy? Do kids so "I want X" and get taken to the store?
