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Anonymous

15 Feb 2026

Parenting

Anyone else’s kid spends everything by midweek?

I give a weekly allowance to my boy but by midweek it’s gone usually on snacks, toys, or online game top-ups. How do I teach him without turning it into a daily fight?

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I have 3 kids, 6,7 and 7yo. The 7year olds get $10 pocket money a week. One of them requests for us to pack food from home for recess specifically so she can save momey, she has at least $7 of this pocket money left on Friday. The other one loves canteen food too much, refuses to eat the food we pack for her, has about 50cents left by Friday. The 6yo is still in preschool so no pocket money, but if he gets any money he will insist on spending every single cent immediately simply for the rush of spending money it seems. I teach all of them the same things about saving money, delayed gratification, etc. It's really about personality and maturity.

Let him learn consequences without you becoming the “money police.” Keep the weekly allowance, but agree on 2 simple rules:

  1. you won’t top up when it runs out (he has to wait till the next allowance)
  2. he must set aside a small SAVE portion first (even $1–$2) before spending.

Then give him a tiny “snack budget” for the week so he practises pacing, and make game top-ups a planned item (e.g., only if he’s saved up for it, or only on a set day).

Edward Chong

28 Feb 2026

Full time business research fellow at NUS

Need to discipline and counsel the child

His spendings are more instant gratification. Try enticing him to a larger goal that cannot be bough...

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