Why My Kids Don't Get Allowance || Mayim Bialik

I don't give my kids an allowance why because I'm a mean mean bad mommy I'm just kidding why don't I give them an allowance because I'm a mean mean bad mommy no but seriously why don't I I'll tell you in a second but first make sure to LIKE this subscribe to this channel hit the little bell icon then you can get notifications of all my videos so why don't I give my kids an allowance well here's what you probably think you probably think I'm gonna do this in your voice you're a rich celebrity and you just buy your kids everything they want and they probably have a nanny who buys them everything the little hearts desire and they're so spoiled that they're probably never gonna have to work a day in their lives so you just give them whatever they want cuz you're a rich celebrity wrong in many ways why don't I give my kids an allowance three reasons reason number one because I don't get one people often say that allowance can be used to motivate children to do chores and things around the house but here's the deal I don't get paid to do chores and things around the house no one pays me to clean the toilets clean the stove or wipe up the little bits of urine that make their way all the way from the kidneys onto the floor surrounding the toilet bowl in my mind the motivation for doing chores should not be money it should be the following in our family we all do the things that we need to do to keep our house running and we reap the rewards of having a clean house and the satisfaction of doing it ourselves and guess what despite none of us having an allowance our chores get done do my kids whine about it sure they do and you know what it's not a big deal and just for clarity I do think that money can be earned for things that you would otherwise hire someone to do examples include harder labor such as rigorous yard work cleaning the gutters or cleaning the windows if they want to put in some extra work to make some extra money I'm all for that but an amount of money just because they exist it's not my thing the number two reason that I don't give my kids an allowance is they don't deserve to have fun kids should apparently be allowed to have fun people say so they need an allowance to buy themselves fun things with I mean I'm not really sure what fun means I'm just kidding I know what fun means I don't really but 10 that I do for the purpose of this video I know how important it is for children and teenagers to have things that are fun I know this because I've been buying those things for almost 14 years and at a certain age yes I do believe that spending money autonomously is important but I don't feel that at 10 and 13 I'm denying them of their autonomous right to buy candy and magic cards because that's probably what they're gonna do with it right I'm just kidding my older son is saving up for the entire collection of Kierkegaard's writings whatever your child's idea of fun is they do deserve to explore that at whatever age you decide it's right that age is gonna vary from family to family I have a feeling we're getting close to that we just haven't quite gotten there yet this brings us to the third reason that I don't give my kids allowance there's more than one way to teach about financial responsibility I know what you're thinking don't you want your children to learn the value of a dollar maybe I should ask it like no no my aunt Barbara would ask it don't you want your children to learn the value of a dolla of course I want my children to understand money management intimately I want them to understand saving money and balancing their desire for things against the actual amount of money that they have to spend I just haven't felt at least not until now that the only way to do that is by giving them money there are many ways to learn about money we have a sadhaka or charity box in our house where we put loose change money that is found in pockets after it's been through the washer and dryer or even loose change that we find on the street I once found a hundred dollar bill on a walk in our neighborhood and to my children's shock and dismay I put that hundred-dollar bill right in the sadaqa box at the end of the year we donate that money to the charity of their choice they get to participate by rolling the coins and those little things you get from the bank remember the bank and they also get to use my fancy calculator to total it all up I have always strongly encouraged some might say enforced my son's to donate a portion of what they earn from doing their rigorous chores to charity my older son donated 10% of the money he earned for his bar mitzvah to charity as well a natural extension of my children's notion of earning money is to donate some of it to those in need are many other ways that I show my children the value of a dollar I like to shop at thrift stores and for the most part I don't participate in disposable fashion which means I don't buy things four times a year as the seasons change I kind of tend to wear the same things over and over which you can see if you've watched more than four of my videos in addition little quirk about me you may not have known I reject most aspects of our culture that require any expensive maintenance like I don't get my nails done I don't get my toes done either I don't back s-- I don't dye my hair you know those pretty things and yes I still pick up change off the street and put it in the Tanaka box and embarrass my children in the process so how do my precious sons feel about not getting an allowance well like any celebrity children they love their mom think I'm the best and they wouldn't choose any other life other than the one that they live with me my sons are royally annoyed with me in general and especially because you know what's been going on at their dad's house for years years allowance I think he pays them to brush their teeth they may even get paid to open up their eyes in the morning it's like a party over there it's probably not like that but it is different and that's okay I don't need to compete with my ex-husband in this arena or really any arena we have fun despite me being the one paying for it and we learn about frugality every time I drag my annoyed and whining children into a thrift store and if nothing else they will spend less money because they will hate shopping you're welcome and hey tell me in the comments below what's the age you think kids should start getting allowance and why do you think kids should be given an allowance just for existing tell me in the comments below see you next time

Channel: Mayim Bialik

Views: 670,934

Keywords: Parenting, Allowance, Kids chores, Celebrity parents, Strict parenting, Mayim bialik, Big bang theory, Amy Farrah Fowler

Id: ezC75doaQpY

Length: 6min 11sec (371 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 31 2019