He has already had the opportunity to pay tithing. We were excited to introduce this concept to him, and, as expected, he was a good sport about it, handing over his three dimes to the bishop. But, on some level, I think he found it troubling that Jesus wanted a cut of his money. Ever since he paid his tithing, he has announced, on numerous occasions, "I don't like Jesus. I only like monster trucks." We have explained that he can like Jesus and monster trucks, but he insists that he only likes monster trucks and that he doesn't like Jesus anymore. There's nothing like teaching your children good Christian principles only to have it backfire.
David, has, however, embraced the principle of sharing. He climbed on a chair to reach the top of the computer cabinet, scooped out a handful from Dad's spare change jar, and sprinted to his room to deposit the money in his own jar. When Greg tried to stop him, he exclaimed, "Daddy, you share your money with me!" It's good to know that we instilled in David a desire for more money?
Anyway, we'll see how this allowance thing goes. We are prepared with a stack of one dollar bills and a big bag of dimes. (We realized that we couldn't pay an allowance unless we had some cash with which to do it--including change for tithing.) Greg and I have generally been of the opinion that allowances are to teach children decision making and money management. (Whereas everyday "chores" are simply expected of children because they are part of the family.) But we are very new (and idealistic?) at this parenting thing. We'll see how the issue of allowances unfolds over the years.
Right now we can only hope that David might like Jesus again. And stop stealing from his dad.
