Too young for pocket money

Toots is 3 and a half. That's a big half when it's 15% of your life !

Her behaviour has been very good generally. Well, almost always.

She responds well to a star chart and to gets generally excited when it translates to something more tangible.

But every now and again we have meltdowns. They tend not to be minor meltdowns but great big major ones.  We've had to remove all the toys, we've had a screaming match outside Boots, we've had to threaten to remove dance class. Oh dear. Not the best parenting of a pre-schooler. But what else to do?

I've been wondering if we should take a different tack. What if stars = money and money = magazines. So rather than good behaviour resulting in a treat, good behaviour gets pocket money and then she can decide what to do with it.

I was inspired by the lady on the checkout in Asda who said that her 3 1/2 year old had managed to save up the pocket money provided by her grannny (mum in law) to pay for half of a pair of Ugg boots. So this pre-schooler managed to save £40 quid from her pocket money and bought a pair of boots. I was quite disgusted by this at first. But the more I thought about it the more I wondered if it would work.

I remain unconvinced. But perhaps teaching the value of money at an early age can only be a good thing.

Now where did I put that piggy bank????