1 Mother 2 Another

Recently Maddie asked if she could start
receiving an allowance – she read a book where the heroine
got one and her interest was piqued.


Stupid literacy.


Anyway, Brian and I talked about it and took a straw poll in our
neighborhood, and began giving Maddie the magnificent sum of one
dollar a week. She’s quite content with this, for which we
are thankful. And we decided not to tie it to chores around the
house; chores are a part of being in a family, and she’s not
going to be rewarded for doing her part, so an allowance is outside
of that. She will, however, be allowed to request extra chores to
earn extra cash.

But with a regular sum came the discussion
of What To Do With Your Money. We told Maddie she can do whatever
she wants with it as long as it’s not inappropriate for her
age or harmful, but that she has to give something –
something – to the church. And as for saving, well,
that’s encouraged as well. In fact, we’ve offered to
match whatever she gives to the church or puts in her pre-existing
savings account.


Yes, she already has a savings account. We’ve sneaked the odd
birthday gift in there, but by and large Maddie’s fortune is
kept in a bulging piggy bank in her bedroom. Proceeds from her
annual lemonade stand, extra cash from relatives or odd jobs
– the pennies and quarters and folded bills have been crammed
helter-skelter in the poor piggy.


Up until this point, Maddie has resisted all of our attempts to get
the stash into a financial institution; she likes to keep the money
where she can see it. But the siren lure of doubling her cash
proved too strong to resist, and she finally decided to check out
the bank thing. So last Friday we took a fancy trip to our local
bank.


In true Maddie style, the trip was fraught with pitfalls and fears.


I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.