<prompt> Human: We live a frugal lifestyle. Small place, no loans, modest older car. We dont own all the fancy toys or clothes. Kids have a small allowance 15month and a checking account so they can learn to manage their money. They are teens. We dont eat out much. They take their lunches to school. I try to teach them about shopping smart. They can pick their own clothes; I set the budget and then they get a certain amount of discretionary money. I buy all their school stuff, sports equipment, etc. We live a good life. We have traveled the country and been abroad several times. I point out that saving money in some areas allows us to spend when we want to. They sometimes resent feeling like they are poor. I feel like they have no idea what poor really is. As you can imagine, I do. So I dont share how much money is saved. But when they get to college in a few years, theyll be mostly funded. I struggle with this too--shouldnt they have to work?Edited to add: Both kids are legal working age. I guess my question isnt just Should they get jobs? but how to make them value money. I feel like they dont think twice about it when they lose or break expensive stuff, etc. Edited again to say thanks to everybody for your input. The diversity of thought is fascinating. Also, I feel like they will have so many more opportunities if they can do things like unpaid internships or take jobs that will be advantageous to their interests, rather than just to make money. Right now the only value they see in jobs is money. Final edit I think May I just say that I am totally astounded to find so many people did not have to work in high school or college. This is so hard for me to wrap my head around, and its still amazing to me that I have reached a point where my kids dont have to work. TLDR: Fortunate to be well-off, dont want spoiled entitled brats. Assistant: I think what youre doing is mostly great. But I think 15 a month is a very small allowance. I think I got that much or more when I was in high school and that was a while ago. 10 or 20 a week is more in line with what most teens get. Thats enough to save up and actually be able to buy something that costs 100ish within a couple months and therefore understand and appreciate the value of saving for that thing as opposed to being able to buy like 3 lattes a month. Or like 2 package of emergency tampons.. Or about one lunch with friends. No these things arent essential, but if your money is so limited you essentially have no choices of what to do with it, youre not really learning to discern your money choices. And if they feel so deprived and poor, the lesson they might learn is to spend ASAP when they do have money. Human: They are old enough to work. One had a job for about a month. I want them to want to work to earn their non-essentials.  <response>: Right but nobody is getting spoiled or entitled on 40-80 A month.. thats enough to not feel deprived which you say they do feel, and they could still be motivated to work if they want anything more than that.If youre concerned about how they dont care if they break or lose expensive things, have them replace the item from their , go without or replace with a crappier version. Again, you need to actually have some money to spend to learn this lesson, because if your kid lost a 600 phone they wouldnt be able to replace it from allowance before they go to college making it essentially meaningless- oh well guess I dont have 15 a month, no big deal... guess you could force them to work, but again, why be motivated in that situation when they dont have much to lose 