Spend

Why this matters for kids

Kids need to practice spending. The instinct to constantly redirect money toward saving — "you should save that, don't spend it" — sounds responsible but actually backfires; a kid who never gets to spend their own money doesn't learn how to spend well. Spending is a skill, not a failure mode, and like any skill it requires practice with low stakes before high stakes. A six-year-old who buys a toy with their allowance, plays with it for a day, and then realises it wasn't worth $5 has just learned a lesson worth far more than the $5. They've also learned that bad spending feels bad — a sensation most overspending adults never properly developed because they never had stakes early. Kids who get to spend their own money make their own bad choices, feel real regret, and develop the internal compass that asks "is this worth it?" before clicking buy. That compass is what stops them from becoming the adult who spends $200 on a thing they won't use.

How to teach it

Let them spend their own allowance on small things you would not buy for them. The whole point is choices that are theirs to make and theirs to regret if applicable. Resist the urge to critique their choices in the moment — bad spending choices at age six are cheap lessons; the same lessons at age twenty-six are expensive ones. After a purchase that didn't work out, ask gently a few days later: "was it worth it?" Don't lecture. Let them sit with the answer. For older kids, introduce the 24-hour rule: when they want something over a certain price, sleep on it. Most impulse wants evaporate by the next morning; the ones that survive are usually the right ones to buy. For tweens and teens, talk about the "lifestyle creep" trap: as their allowance or earnings grow, the temptation is to upgrade their default spending to match. Practicing restraint when income rises is the same skill that protects adults from spending raises before they hit the bank account.

Common misconceptions

• Spending is the opposite of saving. They're paired skills. A budget says how much of each — both are part of healthy money behavior.
• All spending is bad. Spending on things that genuinely improve life — experiences, useful tools, gifts to loved ones — is exactly what money is for.
• You should justify every purchase. The 24-hour rule and the spend-jar split do the justification for you. You don't need to negotiate every $5 with yourself.

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