This year we got her a checking account and a check card for that money.
How did you go about that? I've been contemplating that for the future but it seems like the kid has to be 16 or 18 to qualify. Does she write an actual check or is it a debit card?
Our family is just kinda weird when it comes to money, I guess. No allowance, but all clothes, food, and basic necessities are paid for. As are occasional treats, and field trips. No one ever really goes to the mall with friends or sees movies, so I guess that's a moot point, and clothes are just...clothes.
I don't really think about it, but I guess the way it ends up is that discretionary spending is just fairly low for us. However, we do spend money on larger things like summer camps without expecting reimbursement. So...there are few things asked for and, therefore, they are just paid for BUT there isn't any allowance or anything. On the other hand, they get a lot of cash gifts instead of presents, but the money usually (unprompted) goes into the bank.
However, the question becomes what will happen when the want arises for a car, or something more objective.
I don't know if it's got anything to do with giftedness or not but there's always a certain...reluctance in my family to spend money. It's not exactly being cheap, it's just... I don't know. Maybe we're just overthinking or overanalyzing but we don't spend money on "unnecessary" things without a lot of internal questioning. I don't really know how to describe it.
