My daughter Antonia has started middle school and made it known that the time for regular pocket money has arrived. I agreed — but had no idea what the right amount should be. So I asked around.
My friend Eryka, remarkable as always, told me this.
She grew up in the 1980s on a farm in rural Poland. Her parents kept the equivalent of around €1,000 in a drawer. When Eryka or her sisters needed money — for themselves, for something they wanted — they went to the drawer, took what they needed, and wrote it down on a slip of paper. Date, amount. That was it.
Their parents never asked what it was for.
And the girls never abused it. Never took more than they needed. Never spent it carelessly.