Earn It, Learn It: Teach Your Child the Value of Money, Work, and Time Well Spent (Earn My Keep Allowance Program)
The author, a mother of two with a background in marketing, has devised a creative system for helping children understand the value of money while learning about careers. Maintaining that many kids assume that money grows on trees, with "gimme" as a mainstay in their vocabularies, Weinstein presents an alternative allowance program. Children four to 12 select from 50 careers and parents guide them as they choose from more than 950 activities, ranging from "shadowing" a professional archeologist to learning how to analyze products like a UX researcher. In return for completing their career assignments, children get financial compensation (the author leaves the exact amount in the hands of the parent) from parents. Children still complete household duties such as making their beds, but the allowance comes from the "Earn My Keep" tasks only. While the book is a treasure trove of innovative and imaginative activities, readers may wonder how busy kids will find time to add to their already packed schedules. Weinstein asserts, however, that many of the tasks (which are icon-coded by type, from simple to complex) can be managed in small amounts of time. Skeptical readers may also wish that examples of families that have successfully used the system had been interwoven. (Jan.)(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC.  All rights reserved.