<prompt> Human: Hi all! I want to know how to teach my son about money so that when he gets out on his own he doesnt have as big a learning curve as I did. He is 8 years old so, of course, I handle everything for him. We did the allowance thing for a while but we both kind of let it slide. Right now, I am offering him .25 for every .25 miles we walk so 1 mile 1. Should I give him paper money to keep? Should I just keep a digital record and then subtract from when he wants to buy something? At this age, should I make him save anything?I never learned anything about money when I was a kid. If I wanted something, my parents bought it for me or told me no. When I got older, we had a charge account at the grocery and at the gas station. It wasnt until I was in college that they tried to give me limits. The same thing happened with my younger sister. Last week, she got her first paycheck and by this week she was asking me for gas money. I want my son to learn this now.How do I do this? I am a single mom and the only child support I get is 146 a month. I didnt even get that for many years and so it would be easy for me, finance wise, to give that to my son each month. But 146 is a lot of money for a little kid.TLDR: Help me help my son to learn about money while he young so he knows what to do when he is making his own money.  <response>: I dont have a child, but I was a child who was introduced to money early on, around 5 years old. When my dad would drop me off at my babysitters house on the weekends both parents worked more than full time, hed give me a few dollars like 3 or 4 to get a little something when my babysitter went grocery shopping. I was a natural saver and would only spend a dollar or two, and my family praised me for it. I got a little velcro wallet to keep my dollars in and when I wanted something at a store Id have my little wallet to look for money in. I kept with the habit as I got older and wanted more things, one thing I remember purchasing with my saved dollars was a Tamagotchi toy for 20. If relatives gave me any money for my birthday, my mom would take me to the bank with her and put it in a savings account in my name. Wed talk about important things Id need when I grew up college, car, money for big school trips. Not really much of advice, just a personal anecdote. Props to you for wanting to introduce money in a positive light to your kid! 