?'s on kids WDW $$

[amsyw]

Hi,
I have a little delimma, ds (6)lives with us and dsd lives with her mother, she will also be 6 by the time we go, so very close in age and needless to say very competitive. Here is my problem, we give each of the kids allowance (disney dollars) for doing things for us around the house, keeping their rooms clean, helping me put up clean dishes, setting the table etc. dd is only able to earn $ every other weekend, ds every week. needless to say he has saved double what she has. dh and I have discussed how to handle the money issue, do we make them pool their money and try to be equal in treats? do we only let ds take as much as dd has available to take? or do we let them take how ever much they have saved even if it is not equal? I KNOW that dd's mother wont be nice enough to send any of the allowance that dd makes at her house because she has already made several rude comments to dd (I dont know if you can leave me for that long - basically putting guilt on child - her specialty) and dh (HOW are you guys affording to go to Disney? & Are her (my) parents paying for it?? yes RUDE)

Anyway... any opinions on the subject would help!

Thanks in advance....

Alisa

 

[Jordan's MOM]

I would make SURE that they have the same amount of money to spend. One having more would create hurt feelings and stress on your wonderful vacation. What about letting DS take upto the amount that she has saved at your home and then you add to both of their amounts up to what you feel comfortable with them spendiing. Things cost a lot more that one would think at WDW. If their money amount is not too high, You might want to spring for shirts or hats for them both. If it is important to you that they work for thier money, try to find a specail job for DD to do one week-end that could bring her amount up to DS's. Have a great trip!!

Jordan's mom

 

[ReneeQ]

If they are only 5 and 6 are they really aware how much money they have saved? My godson is 10 and my goddaughter is 6 and we just went to Disney in January. For the previous 18 months I gave them Disney dollars for Christmas, birthdays, easter, halloween, etc. They didn't need any more toys for gifts, so this worked out great. I would have spent money on them in Disney anyway, so this kept me from buying unneeded toys AND spending money at Disney.

Anyway, the 6 year old never really had a clue how much she had saved. They each had a Disney bank they put their money in and never took it out until a week before we left. I kept a running total of how much I had given them. The 10 year old ended up with 2 birthdays during this 18 months, but the 6 year old with only one, so he really had more money. I just snuck extra money into her bank and when they counted it, voila, the same amount for each child!

Depending on how much money we're talking, can you just "sneak" extra money into the step daughter's bank? I agree they should have the same amount, and it's not her fault she isn't there as much to earn the money. She has earned what she can and probably won't know she didn't earn it all.

 

[pat fan]

As another mom with 2 children,I agree with keeping the amounts equal.Too many hard feelings can occure between seblings when one feels like the other is getting "special" treatment.

I also agree that they are probably too little to know exactly how much they have,and if by some chance your DS notices,just say you have no idea how it happened,it must be Mickey Magic.You know,Mickey wouldn't want his sister to feel bad about having less money or some such thing."Mickey Magic" took care of a lot of stuff for us on our first trip when DS was only 7.Nothing bad will happen in the Haunted Mansion,it's just "Mickey Magic"...Will the Villians "get us" in Fantasmic?Nope,it's "Mickey Magic"...you get the idea.

 

[SandraC]

I have no advise...but I wanted to let you know that I feel for you and I hope this works out for your family! You seem like a very considerate person. Good luck! Sandra

 

[SandraC]

I have no advise...but I wanted to let you know that I feel for you and I hope this works out for your family! You seem like a very considerate person. Good luck! Sandra

 

[gonzalj1]

My advice would be to make sure they both have the same amount to bring with them by adding to one to make them equal. I agree with a Jordan's MOM, have DD do a special chore if you would like her to earn the money.

Telling DS he can't bring the money he worked for would not be very fair to him.

 

[amsyw]

Thanks so much to everyone and the responses.

Sandra.... THANKS you made my night, thanks for the kind words!

 

[WDW2002]

This is a tough one. Since DSD only has 1/2 the opportunity to make Disney Dollars, I would try to set up some extra work for her to earn some extra $$ at her option. Meaning if she chooses not to do this extra work, then she doesn't earn the money. But you have given her the opportunity to earn equal $$.

On our second ever family trip to disneyland I had one DD who would do anything for $$ for the trip and the other one who wouldn't do anything. They both had equal chance to make the same $ but one choose not to do it while the other did both jobs at times and earned both $$.