¡¡¡HHe looked at me in surprise when I answered, "We will save 5 dollars if we don't buy it at all."

¡¡¡¡Today's children get lots of messages and ⁴values from television and from friends. They are ⁵encouraged to buy things they don't need. What they need is an understanding of the value of the dollar.

¡¡¡¡How do children learn the important facts of life? Most schools do not teach them. ⁶It is up to parents to help their children.

¡¡¡¡To learn about money children need to have some. Early on, parents often ⁷handed out money on a needed basis. But experts say paying certain amount of money each week is the best way to teach children the meaning of money, how to use it and how to plan.

¡¡¡¡Your child ⁸is ready for some money each week around age 5 or 6, when he gets to know the relationship between money and shopping and asks you to buy him things.

¡¡¡¡But how much should the parents give? Some experts suggest giving one dollar for each year of age, but Dr Olivia Mellan ⁹disagrees: " I think 5 dollars a week is too much for a 5-year-old, and 15 dollars is probably not enough for a 15-year-old." What's right for your child ¹⁰depends on three things: the child's level of development, how much you can give, and what you ¹¹expect him to pay for.

¡¡¡¡¹²No matter how much you give them, children will soon feel they need more. But Sharon M. Danes, a professor at the University of Minnesota, ¹³insists that children don't need a ¹⁴raise each year. "There is no lesson to be learned when children expect an ¹⁵increase just because they are a year older," she says. "What they should learn is how to be good money earners, savers and spenders."