My son, 16, has a job. He's been working since the end of August. Every week, I'll give him $20 of his pay. He currently has no bills to pay for (no car, gas, and I take care of his cell phone right now). A few months ago, I put him as an authorized user on my credit card, to use as emergencies... mainly for when he gets a car (dec) but also, his closest friend's parent is an alcoholic and will sometimes try to drive them around drunk. The CC was meant as a way to get a taxi home if they're dependent on the drunk parent. He had a lot of "emergencies" with the vending machine at school bc he was hungry. I ended up taking that away until I can pay it off.If he wants extra money, he just asks and usually, I'll give it to him. About 2 weeks ago, he asked if he could hold on to his money, "to save"... I gave him $100, not his full check but a pretty big amount of it... except he ended up going to walmart and spent it all in one day (SD card and gift card for the Nintendo switch, etc). Not exactly saving it.Last night, he texted me asking to hold his entire paycheck, every week. I'm not sure how to teach the value of saving vs instant gratification. In total, he's grossed over $1,600.. but between the weekly $20, and whenever he asked, he has just a little over $1,100, but this is with him not having real access to it.With him getting a car, I'm thinking of using the envelope method... car payment and insurance will be xxx amount each month, cell is 50 each month, and savings will be xxx amount each month. But idk if that's a good "learn to handle bills" method. I'm not sure if I should give him full access to his paychecks.No one ever really taught me. I'm in quite a bit of credit card debt and it's a struggle to actually save. I'm trying to avoid making the same mistake with him, or having him make those same mistakes. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/3mzLUHg
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