Dear Dr. Tightwad: I encouraged my 16-year-old to get a job because I thought it would give him a taste of the real world, plus some extra spending money. But I've created a monster.
My son buys expensive clothes that even I can't afford and wants to work longer hours so he can buy more. He says it's his money and he can do what he wants with it. What should I do?
Answer: Your son isn't getting much of a reality check if he's working to put clothes in his closet without having to put food on the table.
This phenomenon has been dubbed "premature affluence" by Jerald Bachman of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center.
Jobs are supposed to teach teens the value of a dollar. It would seem, ironically, that they've learned the lesson: A buck will buy stuff, and lots of bucks will buy even more.
The trouble is, teens who spend all their money on sneakers and compact discs are in for a rude awakening - and a decline in their standard of living - when they go off to school or out on their own and have to grapple with grocery bills.
Holding down a part-time job doesn't make your son independent. You're entitled to limit his hours if you think he's overdoing it.
As long as you're providing his support, you're even entitled to at least a portion of his income unless you give him, by formal agreement or practice, the right to spend and manage his own earnings.
Most parents wouldn't go so far as to confiscate their kids' income. But there's nothing wrong with sitting your teens down before they start working - or even at this late date - to hash out an agreement on how their money will be spent.
When they were young and you were giving them an allowance, it was appropriate for you to require that they save some of the money or give some to charity.
Now that they have the opportunity to earn serious wages, it's appropriate for you to require that they save some of their income for college, or get your approval for purchases above a certain dollar amount.
Janet Bodnar is senior editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine and is writing a book on kids and money.